


Blind Eyes

by MorganStark



Series: Morgan Stark Series [2]
Category: Iron Man (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Fatherhood, Hurt Tony, Iron Man 2, Kidnapping, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony has a daughter, Tony-centric, Whump, dad iron man, morgan stark - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 15:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 55,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18593710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganStark/pseuds/MorganStark
Summary: Iron Man 2 Movieverse. In a spur of the moment decision, Tony Stark announces to the world that he is Iron Man. But he wasn't ready for the repercussions it would bring. A new enemy is threating the Stark family and it's up to Tony to protect the person he loves the most, his daughter, Morgan Stark. Sequel to Through Her Eyes.





	1. Chapter 1

I wished I was at home in my PJ's.

Instead I was squished between two very loud and skimpy dressed girls. Not the way I wanted to spend my night.

I groaned and put my fingers in my ears, trying to block out the thousands of voices around me chanting one thing.

"Iron Man! Iron Man! Iron Man!"

I was in Flushing, New York in the newly reopened Stark Expo for the opening ceremony. And I was regretting my decision to stand in the throng of people instead of backstage. I had wanted to see my father the way everyone else in this crowd did and to see how the man with the 'Iron' suit had taken the world by storm. I was amazed at how many people had crammed themselves into this arena to see Iron Man. People had come from across the country, just to get a glimpse of Tony Stark and his extraordinary suit. Some people were holding up signs that said things like 'Iron Man Rules!' and 'I Love you Tony!' while others had bought the plastic masks that looked like Iron Man's mask and hand gloves with a light in them to resemble the suits repulsors. The world was in love with Iron Man.

Six months had passed since dad had announced at that press conference that he was in fact Iron Man. I had been furious at first. The minute he had entered my hospital room I yelled at him until the nurses had to send him away. Pepper and Rhodey gave him the same lecture, though not as loudly as I had done. I had been concerned about people wanting the suit bad enough to do anything to get it but dad had had no such worries. He thought that since he had the suit to defend us, people would be stupid to try and steal it. And it seems like he was right because in the six months since his public reveal, no one had made any attempt to steal it. I was happy but still wary and waiting for it to happen. I hoped it wouldn't.

People had been cautious of the suit at first and thought that it hadn't safe to use in our country but dad had soon changed their minds. In just a few months he had stabilised the east-west relations, saved thousands of lives and become a national hero. Now Iron Man comics were in stores along with little action figures, each month he graced covers of numerous magazines and he even had an 'Iron Man' cartoon series for kids on TV. Life was great for Iron Man.

Dad's public image had never been better. All his good work was in the news without the words "playboy" or "drunk" being used. Stark Industries was back on top after the drop we had after shutting down the weapons division. And the Stark image was getting another boost tonight when Dad officially reopened the Stark Expo. Until Dad starting talking about plans to reopen it, I had never heard of Stark Expo.

I bet no one in this crowd had heard of it either until a few weeks ago but they weren't here for the expo, they were here for Dad. The people around me were getting restless, jostling each other as they waited. Of course Dad couldn't simply walk out on stage. No, he had to make a grand entrance.

Suddenly fireworks boomed above us, an explosion of colour in the dark sky. Dad's cue. I was the only person in the crowd who knew how Dad was going to make his entrance, so while most of the crowd's eyes flew back to the stage, mine stayed glue on the sky. My eyes, now adept at spotting the soaring suit, quickly zoomed in on it.

Hand suddenly pushed at my back, causing me to stumble. Cheers erupted around me. I looked up to see Iron Man standing centre stage, arms in the air. Damn it.

The "Ironette Dancers" began prancing around the stage in their ridiculously skanky outfits. They had been Dad's idea. Everyone around me was going crazy, jumping up and down, dying to get a glimpse of Iron Man. My eardrums were beginning to throb in pain. The stage around Iron Man began to disassemble. The familiar machines rose out of it and began to take apart the suit.

Within seconds Dad was standing before the still roaring crowd in a plain old suit. His eyes scanned the people in front of him and I wondered if he was looking for me. Even though I was only 10 feet away from him, the crowd was so dense I doubted that he would spot me. The Ironettes ended their dance circled around Dad and promptly left the stage.

"Oh it's good to be back! You miss me? I missed you too."

I rolled my eyes. How could they miss him when he had never left?

"Blow something up!" someone yelled from the crowd.

"Blow something up? I already did that," Dad replied, his voice booming across the giant room.

The audience chuckled. Dad smoothed out his jacket and gazed out upon the throngs of people. He was so calm. His face didn't show any hints of fear and nervousness. I could never be like that. More than 5 people and I choked up.

"I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of interrupted peace in years because of me." The crowd cheered and clapped, deafening me even more. "I'm not saying from the ashes of captivity never has a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in human history. I'm not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on a ice tea because I haven't come across anyone who's man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day!"

I shook my head slightly as I gazed up at my father. He certainly wasn't humble. The crowd didn't care as they went crazy for him around me, jumping up and down and screaming random things to him, including "I love you!"

And of course this speech was nothing like the one he had been rehearsing in the jet. I swear half the shit coming out of his mouth he made up on the spot.

"Please, it's not about me. It's not about you. It's not even about us. It's about legacy. It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations." His eyes swept the audience where I was standing. "And that's why for the next year and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision to leave behind a brighter future. It's not about us. Therefore what I am saying, if I'm saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo."

The cheers went up again. I too clapped as I watched Dad up on stage. I began to see him as the people around me saw him; awe-inspiring, a genius, unafraid. But I also saw a side of him the people around me never saw.

"And now, making a special guest appearance from the great beyond to tell you what it is all about, please welcome my father, Howard."

Dad walked off stage as the mammoth screen as wide as the stage changed from the Stark Expo logo to the video of my grandfather.

"Everything is achievable through technology," he began saying onscreen.

I smiled up at my grandfather for a moment. I had watched this video so many times that I could recite every word he said. Of course I felt some sadness over never meeting my grandfather. From what I had heard, he had been a great man, a brilliant inventor and a cunning business man. But what he hadn't been was a great father. Dad rarely ever spoke about him and I have never seen any photos of them together. Part of me thought he was the reason why Dad had never hired a nanny for me when I had been young. I gathered that Dad and his father never really bonded when he was young and he had been determined not to repeat that cycle with me.

The people around me had stopped their jumping and cheering to watch the video. I started to push my way through the people, some of them muttering angrily as I did. I resisted the urge to flip them off and kept walking. As I reached the side of the stage, I pulled out a pass and showed it to the burly security man who eyed it for a full minute before letting me pass.

I walked up the ramp that let backstage and easily spotted my father standing in the wings.

"Dad," I called out.

He spun around the face me, tucking something into the inner pocket of his jacket.

"Hey Morgs." He grinned. "How'd I do?"

"Great," I said as I came to stand in front of him. "But you already know that."

"Yes but it's always nice to hear it."

"Careful or you'll get a big head," I said sarcastically.

I looked up at him, noting that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. It had been that way for months. I was convinced something was wrong but he had been assuring me everything was fine. But I knew my Dad and I knew something was going on that he wasn't telling me about. So many thoughts had ran through my brain as I thought about what he could be keeping from me, each thought worse than the last. Was the company failing? No, I knew by the stock market that we were more than fine. Was something wrong with the suit? No, he wouldn't keep using it if there was. Was Pepper leaving? No, although the Iron Man announcement had taken its toll on her, she wouldn't leave. So what was it? Eventually I had given up wondering and just assured myself that in time he would confide in me. I hoped.

"Holy crap, there is a lot of people out there," I said as I ducked my head briefly out of the wings. The number of people in the audience had seemed to double from when I was in it to staring down at it now.

"Are you sure you don't want to say a few words?"

I spun around to face him with wide eyes. "You're kidding right? You know I can't speak in front of a crowd."

Dad laughed. "I'm kidding."

"Ha ha." I walked over to the water jug and poured myself a glass. Just talking about public speaking was enough to make my throat go dry.

"You know if you take over Stark industries, you will have to make public speeches." Dad briefly glanced at the video of his father still playing, no doubt thinking about his passing and when he took over the business.

Groaning, I clutched my water tighter. "Don't remind me."

The crowd suddenly began clapping and cheering, indicating that the video had ended. Dad tugged on the end of his suit sleeves and flashed me his winning smile. "That's my cue."

I watched my father confidently saunter back onto the stage. I felt a surge of pride as well as a tinge of jealousy.

I pull up a chair and waited in the wings for dad to finish his speech and introduce the man who would be managing the expo. I didn't know how long we would be here for so I was about to go in search of a toilet when he ran back offstage.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"What?" I asked, "You don't have to stick around?" I was expecting to be at the expo for hours, waiting for Dad to fulfil all his commitments.

"Nah," was all he said.

"Thank God!" I wanted to go back home to California and be back in my own bed! I loved New York and had been here on many occasions but today I just didn't want to be here. I had a feeling something was going to go wrong.

________________________________________________________________________

For crying out loud! How long does it take to sign some autographs?

I sighed and lent against the car. I was standing outside the main building, waiting for Dad to finish speaking to the press and meeting fans so we could leave. I was too tired to even admire the newest addition to our collection of cars. It was a white Audi R8 Spyder with a V10 engine, top speed of 194 mph. We had picked it up here in New York and Dad was definitely looking forward to driving it, though we were only going to the airport. While we took the jet home, someone else would drive the car back to California.

"Are you Morgan Stark?"

I looked over to see a tall dark haired woman approaching me. She was dressed well in a high waisted skirt and purple blouse, complete with black pumps. She smiled warmly as she stopped by the car.

"What's it to you?" I asked. I barely passed for polite on a normal day and tonight I was too tired to even try to be nice.

She wasn't put off by my rudeness. She actually chuckled and nodded like my comment proved my identity.

"I'm looking for your father."

I looked her up and down, hoping she wasn't just another girl wanting to try and get in his pants. Come on, I mean it's one thing to try it in front of other people, but I was his daughter. Surely she wasn't gunna crack onto him while I was here?

I opened my mouth to tell her to get lost when I spotted a small white envelope in her hand. Uh oh. God I prayed that it wasn't a paternity test order. I had been anticipating one of those for years now. I really didn't want a sibling.

Before I could question why she was here, the doors leading into the main area opened and Dad walked out, followed by Happy.

"See, that wasn't too bad," I heard Happy say to Dad.

"No it was perfect," he replied.

Dad eyes widened as he took in the scene before him. A grin spread across his face. I didn't know if it was because of me, the car or the woman.

"Hi," he said.

Answer: The woman.

"Hi," she replied.

He approached the girl and shook her hand. "And you are?"

"Marshal."

"Irish. I like it."

I rolled my eyes and left them, walking around to the passenger side of the car.

"Please to meet you Tony."

Happy pressed the button on the keys that lowered the roof on the car and put Dad's bags in the trunk with mine. Without having to be asked, he chucked the keys to Dad.

"Where you from?" Dad asked.

"Bedford."

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," she answered.

"Yeah? You found me."

I jumped into the passenger side, so glad to be finally sitting down. My feet were aching. Dad quickly slid into the driver's seat.

"What are you up to later?"

God, I hoped that was a rhetorical question.

"Serving subpoenas."

Crap. That's bad, very bad.

"Yikes," was all Dad said.

The woman held out the white envelope, waiting for Dad to take it but he made no move to grab it. Oh come on. I couldn't believe Dad was still going with his 'not taking anything handed to me' crap. It was beyond a joke! Only I, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey could ever hand him something.

Dad looked to me out of the corner of his eyes, the corner of his mouth turning up in a smile. I sighed angrily and lent across the car to snatch the envelope from her hand.

"He doesn't like to be handed things," Happy explained from where he stood behind the woman.

"Yeah, I have a peeve."

I chucked the envelope onto Dads lap then rested my head in my hands.

"You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow morning at 9:00 am."

No! I just wanted to go home! I almost cried. Now we had to go all the way to D.C!

"Can I see a badge?" Dad asked.

"You wanna see the badge?"

"He likes badges," I said sarcastically.

The woman smirked as she pulled out a small badge and showed it to Dad. "Still like it?"

"Yep."

She slid it back inside her skirt and backed onto the footpath as Dad started the car.

"How far away from D.C are we?"

"D.C? 250 miles," I said.

Dad revved the engine and took off before I had time to wave goodbye to Happy. He wouldn't be far away though. He and Pepper would probably trail behind us in a rental car. I leant my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes, listening to the purr of the engine. The start of a headache was beginning to pound behind my eyes. I could have just gotten a ride to the waiting jet but I had to stay with Dad and make sure he didn't do anything stupid. Sometimes, like now, I found it really annoying having to be the grown up one. And the mature one. And the responsible one.

"What's wrong?"

I opened my eyes to see Dad staring at me.

"Nothing."

Taking his eyes away from the road, he gave me a look that said he didn't believe me.

"I'm fine Dad."

"You can talk to me Morgan."

I sighed and shifted in the seat. "Okay, you wanna talk? Let's talk about what you're keeping from me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said with complete sincerity.

"Dad, I can tell something is wrong. If you tell me, maybe I can help?"

"Morgan, nothing is wrong that you have to worry about. I can handle it."

I rolled my eyes. He was keeping something from me and it was pissing me off. But I didn't want to press it. The more I pushed, the more he would pull away.

I turned the radio up and we settled into silence as neither of us wanted to talk about what the other wanted to. I didn't bring up the subpoena because I was scared of what it meant. Within a half hour we were out of the city streets onto the highway. With the top down, the wind was causing my hair to whip around my face. I gathered up my long blonde hair, now well past halfway down my back, and pulled it into a ponytail.

I watched the road for a little while, noting that Dad's driving was tamer than usual. No doubt it was due to my presence in the car. I was sure he was desperate to test out the new toy but I appreciated his restraint. After finding the least uncomfortable position possible while in a car seat, I drifted off.

My dream was one I had been having for six months. It always started the same. I would walk up the steps from our garage, looking through the waterfall, into our living room. There I would see a grinning Obadiah and Dad dying. The dream would then alternate. Some nights I dreamt what had happened, me falling through the waterfall. Other nights Obadiah shot Dad then me. Sometimes he paralysed me then tortured me. But it didn't matter how the middle changed, the end was always the same.

Tonight Obadiah had me paralysed, lying on the floor. I was watching Dad as he struggled to breathe. The lights above me flickered as rain pelted the windows. Obadiah was speaking but I couldn't hear what he was saying. My eyes switched from Dad to the large, glinting knife in Obadiah's hand. He took slow, deliberate steps towards me, momentarily forgetting Dad. He bent down next to me and I could see the malice in his eyes. Without a hint of hesitation or remorse, he threw back his hand and plunged the knife into my chest.

I was grateful to wake.

I wildly looked around, still groggy from sleep, half expecting to see Obadiah near. Taking a deep breath, I reassured myself he was gone.

"Bad dream?"

I couldn't look Dad in the eye, not yet. "Uh...yeah," I mumbled. I saw Dad study me from the corner of my eye. I was glad he didn't press for details. While my breathing got back to normal, my mind wandered. I was still having these dreams six months on. Did Dad? Outwardly, he showed no signs of the trauma he went through, but then, neither did I. After 6 weeks with an arm cast, 9 weeks with a leg cast and 4 weeks of physical therapy, I was almost brand new again.

It was only at night when the pain of the ordeal showed. I was pretty sure he knew what my daily nightmares were about but he never pushed me to talk about them. I didn't want to. I hoped they would go away in time.

"Where are we?" I asked after I had composed myself. The sun had risen, telling me I had been asleep for a few hours.

"Greenbelt," he answered.

I looked at my watch and saw that we had a couple of hours before we had to appear before the Senate. Good. I definitely wanted to check into a hotel and have a shower and a good meal. I rolled my neck around, cringing. Sleeping awkwardly in the car had made me sore all over.

We checked into the St Regis, even though we were, hopefully, not staying the night in Washington. I took an extremely hot and long shower, finally feeling human again. When I emerged in a huge fluffy towel, I found a pair of jeans and a black and white striped tee waiting on my bed. No doubt Pepper had left them there for me. For what seemed like the billionth time, I thanked God for Pepper and wondered what I would do without her. She had been especially amazing in the weeks following the Iron Man announcement. When people had called wanting interviews, photo shoots and exclusive knowledge about the suit, Pepper had handled them all. She decided which interview offers Dad accepted, what magazine deals were made and where Dad travelled to promote the Stark image. Without her, Dad would be lost. I think Dad was finally beginning to realize just how much Pepper meant to him. He was testing the boundaries of their relationship. I thought having Pepper as a girlfriend would be good for Dad and would have no qualms if they began dating, but for now Pepper remained entirely professional as his PA.

And she was more than just my Dad's personal assistant. She was my closest friend. She was the one that I called when I needed advice, the one that rushed over when she heard tears in my voice, the one that you would do anything for. We laughed together, cried together and loved each other. They were times when she was so busy we didn't see each other for days but we always kept in touch by texting or email.

I ducked into the bathroom again to change. I slapped on minimal make-up and left my hair to cascade in soft waves down my back. When I came out, Dad was sitting at the table beneath the huge French window. A mountain of dishes sat upon the table.

"I love you!"

"Are you talking to me or the bacon?" Dad asked as I approached the table.

I mumbled something incoherent and sat down. My mouth was literally watering, reminding me that I hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day. I piled my plate high and ate as much as I could. It wasn't until my plate was completely empty did I remember what was coming today. Butterflies filled my stomach and the food threatened to reappear. We both knew why Dad was being called to appear before the committee. Even though I knew he probably wouldn't care, I felt the need to warn him.

"Dad, today please don't..." I couldn't figure out a way to finish that sentence.

Dad looked up from across the table. "Don't what?"

I looked around for the right word but couldn't come up with any. "These people are not under you're employment so you can't yell at them, berate them or antagonise them. They are influential people so please just watch what you say."

Dad just shrugged. "I know what I'm going to say. They want the suit, I will say no. Simple."

I sighed. Nothing with Dad was ever simple.


	2. Chapter 2

Some things changed but one thing always stayed the same. I always tied Dad's tie. Always.

As I did it up for him, he smiled down at me. There was something in his eyes I didn't recognise.

"You're a good daughter."

I laughed. "Yes I am."

"I mean it," he said with emphasis. "I don't know how I ended up with such a perfect daughter, especially with me as your father, but you are amazing. I love you. No matter what anyone says, no matter what you hear, I will always love you."

I suddenly realized Dad was having a rare serious moment. I absorbed his words with a small frown, wondering what had brought on this sudden burst of affection and proclamation of love. Sure, we loved each other but we didn't do all the mushy shit like other families did. We knew we loved each other and we just reminded each other every now and then when we were feeling sad or thankful. I tried to remember the last time Dad had had a sappy moment. Six months ago, when I had been in the hospital after 'the accident'. I understand why he had done it then. Watching someone you love come close to death makes you want to tell them how much you love them. But why now? Neither one of us was going anywhere anytime soon.

I told myself to stop questioning why my father had told me he loved me. Just be happy and thankful!

"Thanks Dad," I said before pulling him in for a quick hug. "I love you too. And despite what you may think, you were a good father. Remember the time you were teaching me how to ride a bike and you padded the whole driveway so if I fell over I wouldn't hurt myself?"

He smiled at the memory. "And then you went too fast and hit the driveway gates headfirst?"

"Hmmm, yes," I said with a touch of sarcasm. "That is a particularly fond childhood memory of mine."

He bent down and gave me a kiss on my cheek.

Sappy moment passed, we made our way down to the car and started driving but I was hardly paying any attention. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go wrong. To top it off, my leg was starting to ache. Ever since the accident, both my leg and my arm ached randomly.

"Come on Morgan."

I brought myself back down to Earth and saw that we had arrived already. I got out of the car and began to follow dad through endless hallways, ignoring a few gawkers and cameras. I hadn't even thought about the fact that cameras and reporters would be here. I looked down at my frayed jeans and simple tee. I shrugged. All eyes would be on Dad anyways.

We stopped before a set of large oak doors. My leg was continuing to ache. I leant down and rubbed it, knowing it wouldn't make much difference anyway. I noted dad's eyes slid down to my leg but someone distracted him as they came up to talk to him.

"Here you go." Pepper.

I turned around. She was giving me a gentle smile while holding out a bottle of water and two aspirin. I grinned at her. "Thanks." Just having her here calmed my nerves.

I quickly took the pills and a swig of water. Suddenly the doors to the court opened and we had to go in. The room was packed. Before the row of the committee members was a long table, presumably where dad was to sit. The rows of seats behind the table were full, leaving people to stand against the walls. I ignored the glaring cameras as I followed dad down the aisle. He, however, waved and grinned as people clapped for him.

My eyes travelled up to the row of committee member and saw that none of them looked happy. Great.

Dad took a seat at the centre of the long table while both Pepper and I squeezed into the rows of seats behind him. I didn't know if I would be able to sit here for long. The pain in my leg was not going away and my head was beginning to pound.

People began talking but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I kept my eyes on the ground, willing all the pain to disappear. I knew I should have been listening to what was going on but my mind wouldn't focus. I don't know how long I sat there, not paying attention to anything going on around me. Pepper gently touched my shoulder once or twice but I kept my gaze on the floor.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the aspirin kicked in and the pain began to fade. I looked up, wondering what had been going on while I had been out of it. None of the committee members looked any happier as they stared at dad...who was staring at me.

"Turn around," I hissed.

"Mr Stark! Can we please pick up where we left off?" asked the man who seemed to be running the show. "Mr Stark, please!"

Dad swung around in his chair. "Yes dear?"

Oh God. The crowd laughed but I found it anything but funny. This was not a game yet he was treating it as such. "How long as he been like this?" I whispered to Pepper beside me.

"The whole time," she murmured back.

Fan-bloody-tastic. I had tuned out and dad was being cocky. He needed to be more careful and realize that he isn't untouchable.

"Can I have your attention?"

I looked at the small name plate in front of the man doing the questioning. Senator Stern. What an appropriate name. Right now he certainly was looking stern.

"Absolutely," dad replied into the small microphone on the desk in front of him.

"Do you or do you not possess a specialised weapon?"

"I do not."

"You do not?" Senator Stern questioned.

"I do not...well, it depends on how you define the word 'weapon'."

The Senator leaned back in his chair, like he was somehow enjoying this interrogation. "The Iron Man weapon."

"My device does not fit that description."

"Well...how would you describe it?"

I could hear the agitation slipping into dad's voice. "I would describe it by defining it as what it is Senator."

"As?" the Senator prompted.

"As...hmm...it's a high tech prosthesis."

That earned a few chuckles from the crowd.

"That's actually the most apt description I can make of it."

I sighed and rested my head in my hand. The flashing lights from the cameras were beginning to annoy me. I wondered how many people across the world were watching this.

"It's a weapon. It's a weapon Mr Stark." Stern sounded as annoyed as I was.

"Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen-"

"My priority," Stern said, speaking over dad. "Is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."

"Well, you can forget it," dad said matter-of-factly.

I couldn't believe these people were wasting their time trying to get dad to turn over his suit. He built it and owned it. End of story.

"I am Iron Man." Bloody oath. "The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you're in." Once again, the people laughed. God, I wished he would just take this seriously! "You can't have it."

"Look, I'm no expert-" the Senator begun.

"In prostitution?" Dad asked. "Of course not. You're a Senator. Come on." He spun around and gave the peace sign to the room. I shook my head at him but I may as well not have bothered. He briefly caught my eye. I widened my eyes, trying to convey to him that he should tone it down a bit. He kept my gaze for a moment longer then turned back.

"I'm no expert in weapons," the Senator corrected. "We have somebody here who is an expert in weapons. I would now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor."

I watched Dad's head shot up at the mention of Justin Hammer. The man seemed to come from out of nowhere, coming to stand at the end of the long table where Dad currently sat. Dressed in a gray suit, complete with nerd glasses, he looked like he would pass for an expert. But I knew better. I couldn't believe they had brought this douche in. I had only met the guy once but he was a total, utter tool.

"Let the record reflect that I observed Mr Hammer entering the chamber and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance."

Okay, I couldn't get angry at him for that one. A small laughed slipped out of me. Dad looked back and gave me a grin. Hammer seemed to shrug it off as he sat down in the furthest chair at the table.

"Absolutely. I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony." He sent Dad a sly grin. "You're the wonder boy."

I wanted to stalk straight over there and pummel those glasses into his face. For years his company had been trailing behind Dad's. He had been trying and trying to better Stark Industries and he kept failing. And because he is a jealous prick, he is gunna say whatever he can to make Dad look bad and get the suit turned over to the United States 'people'.

"Senator, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert?" Hammer stood up from his chair, grabbing his microphone as he did. "Your Dad. Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and to the military industrial age. Let's just be clear. He was no flower child. He was a lion." I watched Stern's eyes travel from Hammer to Dad. The bastard was actually enjoying this shit. "We all know why we're here. In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet he insists it's a shield. He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house but this ain't Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats, threats that Mr Stark will not always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Iron Man. God bless America."

A few people clapped, including Senator Stern, but most of the room remained quiet. That's when I suddenly realized something. The people behind me were not here to see Dad fall. They were here to support him and the Iron Man suit.

Despite knowing this, my urge to punch Hammer had increased tenfold during his speech, causing me to squeeze my hands into fists. Now they were stinging. I opened my fists to see small crescent moon shapes in my palm.

To everyone else it would seem like Hammer's little speech had no effect on Dad but I could see the tension in his shoulders.

"That is well said Mr Hammer," Stern said as Hammer took a seat. "The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber."

"Rhodey? What?" Dad asked, turning around in his chair.

Suddenly the photographers crouching in front of the table leapt up, clicking furiously. Everyone turned in their seats, including myself, watching as Rhodey, dressed in his uniform, entered the room. Why was he here? Neither Dad or myself had known he was going to be here so he couldn't be here to help us. Sure enough, I turned around to see Stern smiling. Shit.

Dad stood up from his chair and walked halfway down the aisle. "Hey buddy, didn't expect to see you here," Dad said with faked nonchalance.

Rhodey said something to Dad that I wasn't able to hear from my spot. As they walked back towards the table Rhodey gave me a small smile. I tried to return it.

"I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon," Stern said as Dad resumed his seat, with Rhodey taking the one beside him. "complied by Colonel Rhodes. And, Colonel, for the record can you please read page 57, paragraph 4?"

It was news to me that Rhodey had done a report on Iron Man. I began wondering just what he had written if the Senator wanted some of it read out. Surely he wouldn't have written something that could damage Dad's reputation as Iron Man?

"You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report Senator?" Rhodey asked.

"Yes sir."

Rhodey glanced at Dad. "It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner."

I wished I could see Dad's face so I could tell how he was feeling but I could barely see the top of his head as he slouched down in his chair.

"I understand," Stern said. There was a hint of a smile playing on his face. "A lot of things have changed today. So if you could just read-"

"You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summary of my final-"

"Just read it Colonel." Stern's tone was suddenly sharper. "I do. Thank you."

Rhodey looked defeated but slightly nodded as he thumbed through a stack of papers, looking for the right page. "Very well," he said as he opened to the correct page.

Dad shifted in his seat to the side and leant back.

"As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests." Rhodey looked guilty over to Dad.

In that moment I hated Rhodey.

"I did, however, go on to summarise that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities," Rhodey continued. "And that it would be in our interest-"

"That's enough Colonel."

"-to fold Mr Stark-"

"That's enough."

"-into the existing chain of command Senator."

Dad suddenly leaned into the microphone. "I'm not a joiner but I'll consider Secretary of Defence if you ask nice. We can amend the hours a little bit." People around me laughed.

I couldn't believe the Senator was manipulating Rhodey's report to his benefit. You could not take a small piece of text out of a huge report and get all the details accurate. He was just a huge ass trying to get things his own way.

"I'd like to go on and show, if I may, the imagery that connected to your report," the Senator said.

I almost threw my head back in exasperation. There was more? And what images could they possibly have that would convince everyone that turning over the suit was in everyone's best interests?

"I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at this time." Rhodey's argument was ignored as the Stern spoke over him.

"With all due respect, Colonel, I understand. And if you could just narrate those for us, we'd be very grateful."

Sonofabitch! I literally wanted to strangle him! He was being unreasonable.

All eyes turned to the somewhat large TV situated beside the judges. The screen changed from a logo to a birdseye view of a desert area. There were a few buildings and hangers in the photo but everyone's attention was drawn to a circled area of the photo. Squinting, I could just make out what seemed to be something large and mechanic-like.

Oh shit. I had been wondering why no one had made any attempts to steal Dad's suit. It was because they were making their own.

"Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are, in fact, attempts at making manned copies of Mr Stark's suit." Rhodey said.

My eye's flicked over to Dad to see how he took this information. He had to have known this was going on. And he hadn't told me. Because then I would have been right.

Dad wasn't even looking at the TV. He was fiddling with his phone.

"This has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground, indicating that these suits are quite possibly, at this moment, operational."

How on Earth had these people managed to replicate our suit? No one had our designs or some of the machinery that we used to make the suits. They must be poorly made but are somehow functional, apparently.

"Hold on one sec buddy," Dad said suddenly, leaning across the table. "Let me see something here."

He held up his phone, which was barely more than a piece of glass, and lined it up with the TV. People began murmuring as he tapped away, wondering what the hell he was doing. I was wondering the same thing. Suddenly a black box appeared on the TV screen. Numbers and letters flashed in the box along with the words 'Welcome Mr. Stark'. I bit back a laugh, finally realising what he was doing.

The people behind me whispered louder as Dad spoke. "Boy I'm good. I've commandeered your screens." He whipped around and did the same thing to the screen on the other side of the room. "I need them. Time for a little transparency. Now let's see what is really going on."

I frowned, wondering what the point was to taking over the screens. What could he show them that would make them believe Iron Man was safe in his hands?

"What is he doing?" Stern asked with clear nervousness in his tone.

"If you will direct your attention to said screens," Dad said as he placed the phone on the table, continuing to swipe and press it. "I believe that's North Korea."

Suddenly video footage appeared on the screens. It was in black and white with Korean symbols on the screen but what captured everyone's attention was the large and odd looking robot. People gasped as they watched the crude robot try to walk and stumble. As it fell to the ground, the machine attached to it began firing. People screamed in the video as they fled. Shots continued to be fired and something that looked suspiciously like blood slashed across the screen.

"Can you turn that off?" Stern said. "Turn it off. Take it off.

Hammer jumped from his chair and raced to the TV, fumbling for the switch to turn it off.

"Iran," Dad continued.

The video changed to another scene. Another poorly developed suit was attempting to fly. Though Hammer was standing in front of the TV, still trying to switch it off, we could clearly see the suit crashing into a heap, exploding on impact.

"No grave immediate threat here," Dad said. "Is that Justin Hammer?"

The video changed again. It now showed Justin Hammer standing near a robot, which looked more sophisticated and professional than the other ones.

"How did Hammer get in the game?"

Hammer shoved away someone trying to help him switch off the TV and began desperately searching for the plug. On the screen he was commanding the robot, making it lift a leg.

"Justin, you're on TV," Dad said. "Focus up."

The committee at the table were whispering. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Here Hammer was trying to get Dad's suit turned over, when he had tried to create one himself. Dad looked over his shoulder, giving me a wink.

I turned my attention back to the TV in time to see Hammer commanding the robot to twist to the left. It did so, but too far. Sparks flew from it as its whole upper body did a 180. The Hammer on screen gasped and fled, yelling "Oh shit! Oh shit!" as the robot sparked and died.

The screen suddenly went black as Hammer pulled the plug. He turned around to take his seat. His face was as red as a beetroot. Everyone in the room was staring at him, murmuring. People had actually began to stand up to see better.

"Yeah, I'd say most countries, 5, 10 years away," Dad said in a serious tone. "Hammer Industries, 20."

Biting my lip wasn't enough. I covered my mouth with my hand, my shoulders shaking with laughter. I looked beside me to see Pepper's mouth tugging up in a smile.

"I would like to point out," Hammer said, grabbing a microphone from the table, "that that test pilot survived."

"I think we're done is the point he's making," Stern said. He had stood from his chair at some point. "I-I don't think there's any reason-"

"The point is, you're welcome, I guess," Dad said.

"For what?"

"Because I'm your nuclear determent," he replied. "It's working. America is secure. You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favour."

He stood from his chair and turned around to face us. "I have successfully privatised world peace."

While he gave the peace sign, everyone behind me stood from their chairs and clapped. The whole room was giving him a standing ovation.

"What more do you want?" Dad continued. "For now! I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns." He gestured back to the table of committee members.

"Fuck you Mr Stark," Stern said. "Fuck you buddy."

I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"We're adjourned. We're adjourned for today," Stern said.

"Okay." Dad grinned and slid on his sunglasses.

Stern scowled. "You've been a delight."

Dad gave him the thumbs up before blowing his kisses. I stayed in my chair as he walked down the aisle, talking to the cameras as he went. I looked to Pepper beside me.

"That went well huh?" I asked sarcastically.

"Sure did," Pepper replied with equal sarcasm.

"Can't see why they wouldn't want him protecting America," I said.

That was probably exactly what the Government was thinking. They probably had no problem with the suit...I mean, come on, it's awesome. They just didn't like the drunken, playboy millionaire who was in it. No doubt if they got their hands on the suit, they would just put one of their men in it. Assholes.

"Hey."

I turned around to see a sheepish looking Rhodey staring at us. Part of me wanted to be angry at him but I couldn't.

"I just want you to know I had to compile that report for USAF."

I nodded. "Yeah I know."

"The purpose of the report was not to make Iron Man or your father look bad. I was asked to write a report on the Iron Man suit and make recommendations about its use. If Senator Stern had let me finish, I would have said that the technology the suit possesses is a great benefit to America and that your father should be given an official position within the department of defence."

"Rhodey, I know. I'm not angry at you." I'd known Rhodey since I was a kid and it was going to take more than a report for me to hate him.

"Really?" he asked incredulously. "Because your face when I was speaking said otherwise."

"My face was more angry at dad than you Rhodey. Speaking of, I think I better go find Dad before he does anything else stupid," I said. I was anxious and just wanted to leave. The sooner I was out of this place, the better I would feel.

I turned and left Pepper and Rhodey. I wasn't angry at Rhodey but I wondered if Dad would be. Surely Rhodey gave Dad some pre-warning about the report? He wouldn't just spring it on him. The more likely scenario would be that Rhodey did send Dad the report but, as usual, he didn't read it. If that was the case, Rhodey should have known to send it to Pepper.

I walked the endless halls slowly, part of my mind trying to remember the way out, the other part thinking about everything that had just happened. For now the suit was still Dad's property. But for how long? Senator Stern didn't seem like he was just going to let this go. We would certainly be hearing from him again. And I was afraid of what would happen when we did. The general public certainly seemed to be on Dad's side but would that be enough to stop the Government from taking the suit and all our other prototypes?

I pushed open the doors to see Dad in a sea of reporters. And a smile on his face.

Was I the only one taking this seriously? I was getting sick of Dad's blasé attitude towards everything. I honestly had no idea how he managed to raise me without the help of a full-time nanny. When I was little, it had been fun to have a Dad who didn't care and didn't take things too seriously. Now it was just annoying.

He had to have moments when he took things seriously, running a company and all, but those moments were rare.

Our new Audi was waiting in the nearby car park. Besides the keys dangling in his hands, Dad was making no move to leave. I waited for a minute. Then I snapped.

I would probably regret it later, when Dad yelled at me, but I stalked over to him and grabbed the keys from his hand. As I started the car, I saw the mixture of shock and surprise on his face. Then I was speeding out of the lot.

He would have to take the rental car with Pepper. I didn't care. I was wanted to get on the jet and leave. Of course the jet wouldn't leave until they all got there, but I would be much more comfortable on the jet than standing around a lot of reporters.

I was speeding through the traffic when I realised I had no idea of the way to the airport. After quickly pulling over and consulting the map on my phone, I was back zipping through the cars. As the speedo crept up, my anger faded. By the time I reached the airport, I was regretting my decision.


	3. Chapter 3

"Next time you want to drive my Audi, just ask."

Dad grinned as he walked into the jet and took a seat.

"I'm sorry," I said. "But I was getting sick of waiting." After driving the Audi to the tarmac, I had jumped onto our jet and immediately grabbed a coke and candy bar. I had sat and watched a rerun of Top Gear while waiting for everyone else, who had only arrived an hour later.

Dad just shrugged and threw his feet up on the small side table. "Gotta give the press what they want."

"Since when do you care about giving the press anything?" I said.

"Since they have supported Iron Man," Pepper said as she entered the jet and took the seat opposite dad's. "It's always good to have the press on your side."

I couldn't argue with that. I had seen many people get on the wrong side of the press only to deeply regret it later. And we definitely needed the press on our side if the Senate continues to push for the Iron Man suit to be turned over.

"Did you even listen to me this morning dad?"

"I briefly remember something being said about...something," he replied.

"I said not to antagonize them or insult them which is exactly what you did!"

Dad simply shrugged. "All I said was what needed to be said."

I raised my eyebrows with fake surprise. "Oh, so you needed to imply that the senator was a prostitute?"

"Yes." He suddenly sat up in his chair and waved a finger in my direction. "And don't act so high and mighty. I saw you laughing at Hammer."

Woops. "Okay, you got me on that one. But that's only because the guy is a complete tool. Literally. Even his name says he's a tool. I can't believe they would actually ask him for advice on weaponry." I clenched my fists as my rage began building again. "But back to the original subject, you need to take this more seriously dad. Calling people prostitutes and insulting them is not the way to go about proving that the suit is safe in your hands. You have to accept the fact that you may have to suck up and kiss a few asses if you want to keep the government off your back." I looked to Pepper for encouragement.

"I already gave him this speech in the car," she said.

I sighed and lent back in my chair. "And I see that the message has really sunk in."

I dropped the subject and closed my eyes. I would bring it back up again later. All I wanted to do right now was go home and jump straight into my bed. I felt like I needed to sleep for days.

My mind was starting to drift off when dad's voice brought me back.

"Oh look who it is."

I opened my eyes to see Rhodey sitting down in the chair opposite me. I gave him a small smile which he returned.

Looking between dad and Rhodey, I waited for one of them to say something. It wasn't like dad to keep his mouth shut so I knew it was only a matter of time.

Sure enough, as soon as we were up in the air, he said, "Tell him to apologize for ambushing me."

"I ambushed you?" Rhodey asked.

"Yes, yes."

"I sent you a report."

"I didn't even know-"

"The one with bold red letters on the top of it-"

"Did not."

"Saying Tony. Please fact check."

"You received it," Pepper said.

Oh so that's what had happened. Rhodey had sent Dad the report he had been forced to read parts of for Stern. Dad, being dad, had ignored it. Rhodey should have anticipated that and sent it to Pepper instead.

"I didn't get that!"

"It was on your desk," Pepper said.

My eyes flew between Dad and Pepper, like watching a tennis match.

"Oh please, like I remember," Dad said indignantly, "Cause you know I wouldn't remember even if I did. Have you apologized yet?" He looked over to Rhodey as he slid his feet off the table.

"I wouldn't hold my breath," was Rhodey's reply.

"This would be a good time. I'm supposed to be Iron Man and you're suppose to have my back and I got out of the game, and that left a vacuum and now you're with Hammer, and I'm sorry-"

"You know what would be great?" Pepper asked. "If we could get through some of this stuff on the list."

Pepper had a list of never ending requirements of dad. Things to read and sign, things to approve, appearances to do.

"I'm Iron Man, okay?"

Okay, now he was being stupid and childish. It seemed with everyday that passed he grew more and more stupid. I didn't know what was going on with him to make him act this way but it needed to stop.

Pepper sighed. "Okay Iron Man, could we maybe-"

"You don't know what that means. You didn't make the suit."

"Yes, but I did," I said suddenly. "I helped you make it so I am just as much Iron Man as you are."

"No, I am Iron Man. I protect the free world."

Child. He is the child and I am the parent trying to get him to behave.

"We'll cancel Monaco-"

Oh Monaco. I had forgotten. Every year we went over to Monaco for the Circuit de Monaco. I loved watching the race, especially since we had our own car racing in it. I had many good memories in Monaco. Watching the race cars fly around the track, listening to the roar of the engines, breathing in the smell of burnt rubber. When the race was over Pepper and I would go shopping for hours then find a small beach to ourselves. Pepper always felt like that wasn't something a personal assistant should be doing so she never failed to take her laptop to the beach.

I had always enjoyed our annual trip to Monaco. But not this year. I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay on U.S soil and not run away from the problems plaguing us.

"You guys are going to Monaco?" Rhodey asked.

"What do you mean 'you guys'?" Dad asked, "You're coming to Monaco."

Oh, so now they were buddies again and he wanted him to tag along?

"N-...I can't go." I knew it killed Rhodey to say that. Almost every year he came with us to Monaco, the only except being when he couldn't get away from work.

"Oh come on. That's our thing. We need this."

Rhodey shook his head. "Nah Tony. I have stuff to do. I have responsibilities."

Dad sat up in his chair and swung it sideways to face Rhodey. "So you don't wish to come?"

I turned my head slightly to catch Pepper's eye. She wore the same look I had.

"Just say what you mean," Dad persisted. "You don't want to hang out with me anymore."

I rolled my eyes. Honestly, they were worse than teenage girls.

"I think...hanging out with you is bad for our friendship," Rhodey said.

I had to forcibly bite my lip to stop myself bursting with laughter. What did that mean? You had to hang out with someone to have a friendship.

"What do you call that?" Dad asked. "Call the shrink. Get him on the horn. I gotta find out what just happened. That was criminal."

Pepper picked up her clipboard and pen, ready and probably very eager, to get through the numerous items waiting to be addressed on her list. It was moments like these that made me wonder how on earth she did it all. How does she manage all the commitments and appointments people want dad for? How does she manage dad himself? Even I couldn't put up with him sometimes yet she did, 365 days a year.

"Let's move onto the birthday party," she said.

Dad agreed. "Lets."

"I think in keeping with economical times we should do something small, less wear and tear on your body, maybe a retreat."

I knew even before she had finished speaking that there was no way dad was going to do something 'economical' for his birthday. Every year, without fail, he threw an extravagant birthday party. They had been more demure when I had been little but each year they had grown more lavish and alcohol fuelled. I had hoped for a more low key party this year but I knew my wish was wasted. Dad's previous ways were slowly creeping back. Alcohol was appearing in the fridge, pizza and other fast food was being delivered daily and it was only a matter of time before the first one night stand appeared. I don't know why he was reverting to his previous lifestyle. I didn't want to ask, the more he changed back, the more distance he put between us. I had hoped the changes he made after coming back from Afghanistan were permanent. They weren't.

This year's part was going to be as bad as last years.

"Oh yeah. Lets do some ashtanga yoga in a retreat in Ohio. What!? That's what you want to do," Dad said forcibly.

"No, I'm not suggesting-"

"Why cancel...Oh I get it. Here's the message I'm getting, and tell me if I'm wrong again," dad said, looking to Rhodey, "because this is really really super toxic at this point; why celebrate my birth?"

After a moment, Pepper sighed, realizing there was no point arguing this issue any further. "Okay, we will throw a small party at the house."

Dad grinned as he had once again won another argument.

Pepper scribbled down something on the list and ticked a few things before she looked over to me. "Morgan, People magazine called again for the fifth time. They really want to interview you and get you on the cover. They've even tripled their original offer."

"That's a good magazine," dad said with a grin.

"You only like it because they've named you 'Sexiest Man Alive' four times." I groaned and sunk lower in my seat. "Pepper you know that's the last thing on earth that I want to do."

She smiled and nodded. "I know but I thought I would at least mention it again. They're really pushing for it and they want you to at least consider it."

"Do you think I should do it?" I trusted Pepper's opinion both as a friend and as an assistant so if she thought I should do it then I would consider it. I just hated drawing attention to myself and being on the cover of a magazine was probably the number one way to do so.

"Well, there are a number of things to consider," she said in an extremely professional voice. "Your father's been getting a lot of good press lately and having his daughter on the cover of one of the most popular magazines will only help his image. And yours of course. You've never given an interview before so I think this might be a good place to start. Plus, one day you will run and be the face of Stark Industries and that comes with a lot of responsibilities which includes doing interviews."

I started biting my thumb nail, a bad habit I did whenever I was nervous or stressed. "What sort of questions would they ask?"

"Obviously they will want to talk about your father and his suit but I expect they will also ask about what it is like being heiress to a multibillion dollar business, your love life, your childhood, your mother maybe."

My eyes immediately found dad's and I knew the sadness I saw in them would be reflected in my own. It was hard enough talking about my mother to dad and Pepper, I couldn't imagine doing it with a complete stranger.

"Then they would take some photographs and that's it. It would take around a day."

"They're not that bad Morgan," dad said.

"I'm sure they're not. I would just be nervous because it would be my first interview," I said. "Who would want to read an interview about me though?"

"Morgan, you underestimate yourself too much. You're an amazing person and the daughter of Tony Stark. I'm pretty sure everyone would want to read that interview."

"She's right," Rhodey chimed in.

With three sets of eyes staring at me, I squirmed in my seat. I guess I couldn't put it off any longer. For years magazines and television shows had been chasing an interview with me. I knew it was only because of my father and when dad had gone public with his suits, the offers had only gone up. I had to face the fact that one day I would be running a business and that came with the price tag of weekly press. Better to start now and get use to it I suppose. Plus, I had just been lecturing dad on sucking up to the press to keep them on our side, I guess I should listen to my own advice.

"Okay. Let them know I am seriously considering it and when I've decided I will let them know."

"Good." Pepper gave me a smile and ticked that off her list.

I looked to dad who gave me a wink which I returned with a small smile. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the fact that I was flying home. Home. Everything would be okay.


	4. Chapter 4

My muscles were screaming in protest, begging me to stop. My heart was pumping madly. I listened to the sound of my feet slapping against the damp sand as I tried to clear my mind of everything worrying me. Dad, the suit, the Senate, everything.

I ran up and down the deserted beach until the sun began to dip behind the mountains. I finally stopped and began sucking in air in deep breaths. I was glad we had our own private beach so close to the house as I began slowly walking up the small, rugged path that led to the bottom of the driveway.

I had started running daily after the accident as a way to keep my strength up. And to prove that no one could break me, not even Obadiah. My leg ached during the run but I was determined to push through it. I was fine.

As the house came into view (I still liked to think of it as a house even though a more accurate description would be mansion) my mind couldn't help but think of the future. I was scared of what might be coming.

I had never felt like this before. I had never had to worry about the future. Everything had been set out before me, I didn't have to question my life. Now I questioned it every day. And I was scared, for both myself and dad. Was the government eventually going to get their hands on the suits? Was someone else going to try? The videos I saw at the Senate...they had been failed attempts at replicating our suit, but would someone, somewhere, eventually succeed? I had so many questions and no answers.

I would ask Dad but I knew he didn't have the answers either. And I was beginning to see that when it came to the Iron Man suits, he was blind. All he saw were the suits and the good they were doing. He was ignoring the debates and controversies that surrounded them. I didn't know what was going to happen and that scared me.

I reached the driveway gates I had to go through the process of proving my identity. After voice recognition, a fingerprint and retinal scan and punching in a four digit code, the gates swung open to let me in. Six months ago after Obadiah disabled J.A.R.V.I.S and got into the house so easily, dad had increased security tenfold. It was a pain sometimes but I knew it made him happier knowing that it was in place and it did make me feel more secure in the house. For weeks after the 'incident' I had felt so unsafe at home, jumping at every noise and shadow. Even with J.A.R.V.I.S's constant reassurance that there was no one in the house I had still been paranoid and scared.

I jogged up the driveway, trying to forget. I entered the house to immediately hear dad and Pepper's voices from the garage. Arguing. I wondered what it was about. There were so many things for her to be yelling at him for. Sometimes when they fought I would help alleviate the situation but right now I felt dad needed a little yelling at. He needed to get his mind right and realize his action weren't just affecting him anymore. From now on, everything he did was going to be twisted and spun and used against him in an effort for people to claim the suits. And because of his attitude and inflated ego, he didn't care because he believed he was untouchable and that no one else was as smart as him and could make a similar 'weapon'.

I crossed the living room and climbed up the steps then I realized that it was the first time in six months my eyes hadn't found the waterfall and replayed the accident in my head. I smiled. I was moving on. I wasn't going to let one event haunt me for the rest of my life. I hadn't even been hurt that badly...okay that was a little lie. But it wasn't my injuries that kept me reliving that night every time I closed my eyes. It was because that night I had seen that my father wasn't invincible, with the arc reactor sitting in the middle of his chest, keeping him alive. And that was the night I thought he would die. I never, ever wanted to feel the way I had felt that night. Lying on the stairs in pain, thinking my father was dead above me and I couldn't help him.

Even as I thought about it now, I had to swallow a painful lump in my throat. I pushed those painful memories aside and quickly showered. I pulled on a pair of baggy sweats and my favourite purple singlet.

"J.A.R.V.I.S what's the time?" I asked as I brushed my hair that was so long now it got tangled every 10 seconds.

"7:28 P.M," the British A.I answered.

I was already tired and ready for bed but my stomach rumbled, reminding me of how starving I was. I walked down to the vast living room and was surprised to find silence. I had thought that their argument would still be going on.

I found the leftovers of a Thai takeaway dad ordered after returning from D.C. I quickly zapped it in the microwave and sat down on the couch to reruns of Top Gear. I focused on the cars, trying to remember everything I knew about them, keeping my mind occupied.

But I found my mind wondering back to the Senate. I hadn't spoken to dad about it again since we had got home but I wanted to. I wanted to know why he had kept those videos from me. The ones that showed attempts to replicate the suit. I suddenly remembered a conversation I had with dad months ago and realized why he had kept his mouth shut.  
________________________________________________________________________

FIVE MONTHS AGO

After four weeks in a wheelchair, I had become restless and extremely bored. I wanted to do something constructive like work on my cars but for the time being I was stuck watching dad instead.

"What are these?" I asked, looking at a stack of papers that littered his desk. As I inched myself closer to the desk, I could see sketches of the suit.

"New designs for suits. I've been thinking about new features I can add, like some sort of...stunning laser or...something that lets off a high pitch frequency to incapacitate them."Dad had sat himself down in a chair behind the desk and swung his feet up to rest on the corner of it. For someone who had almost died a month ago, he looked pretty good whereas I looked horrible.

"Dad, I've been thinking about that. Who are you going after? Now that you've taken out the Ten Rings and the people doing the under the table deals in Gulmira, what's next? If you're going be making all these suits, why?"

Dad sighed and put hands behind his head. "To protect people. I'll be taking out people who-"

"Who what? Deserve it? Are you gunna go breaking into jails and murder all the thieves and rapists?"

"Okay, now you're being dramatic Morgan. I fixed the wrongs in my company and that showed me I can help people. How can I sit here with the technology to save, hundreds, maybe thousands of people and not do anything with it?"

Okay, I accepted that, I would probably do the same. But there was still something nagging me. "But if you make more suits, that'll just put more targets on our back."

Dad removed his hands from his head and took his feet off the table. "Morgan, who do you think is going to go after you?" Something in his tone made me think he thought I was being paranoid.

"Well for starters, how about the government? You can't tell me that after your little announcement that they will be just fine letting you fly around in a suit with weapons." I gestured to the suit in question which was now sitting in a glass case next to the one he built in Afghanistan which they had recovered from Obadiah's lair.

"I'll handle the government," was all he said.

I shook my head. I was determined to make my point. "What about people?"

He frowned like I was making no sense. "What about people?"

"Well, you're going to be out there in this suit which is one of the biggest technological inventions of the century. People will want, and try, to recreate it. And maybe it won't be to do good like you're trying to do."

"For starters it will be a long time before anyone can recreate the suit without the designs, the knowledge and the machinery used to build it. And if someone one day does manage it, I will make sure the people who do are not using it for the wrong reasons."

I sighed. "Dad you are not seeing the bigger picture here. You have tunnel vision where all you see is the suit and nothing else like the consequences. One day, sooner than you think, someone else will have this technology and people will get hurt. And then I hope you will remember this conversation."

I wheeled myself towards the elevator and didn't look back.  
__________________________________________________________________________

Of course dad didn't want to tell me about the video's because that would mean that I was right. It has only been six months and already people had made suits based on his. Granted, none of them were exactly functional right now, but it was only a matter of time before they got it right. I wanted to know what dad planned to do about it.

I asked J.A.R.V.I.S to switch the TV off and picked up the empty takeaway container. I had just come back into the living room when I heard the clicks of Pepper's heels upon the stairs. Her figure, blurred by the waterfall, appeared a moment later.

"Hey Pep, what-" I stopped when I saw her face. She was staring at me with wide eyes, her mouth slightly parted. I walked slowly towards her, my mind running over the number of times I had seen Pepper stunned. Once, when she had discovered the suit. "Pepper, what is it? What's happened?"

"Mr Stark...he made me CEO," she said softly.

"What?"

"Mr Stark appointed me his successor."

"Oh." My mind was suddenly trying to comprehend this fact. Pepper was dad's successor, not me. I had just always assumed that I would take over the company after dad. But Pepper was taking over. I told myself not to care; I didn't want to run a company, not now at 17. But what about when I was 21 and was ready? Would Pepper just hand it over to me?

I saw Pepper staring at me, waiting for my reaction. "Congratulations Pepper!" I hugged her quickly and gave her a smile.

"Don't worry Morgs," dad called out as he ascended the stairs. "You can still take over when you're older."

Pepper suddenly gasped and looked at me with shock. "Of course Morgan! I didn't mean to take anything away from you."

I forced a laugh and relaxed my features into a smile. "I know Pepper. Don't worry." I stretched my arms out in front of me. I could feel my smile becoming too forced and strained. "I'm really tired. I'm just gunna go up to bed. Night." I felt their eyes watching me as I retreated upstairs. As much as I wanted to talk to dad about the suits, I needed to be alone right now.

I collapsed onto my bed with a groan. Why was I so upset? Sure, a couple of years ago I had been all gung-ho, ready to work at Stark Industries but now I wasn't so sure. I didn't know if it was what I wanted to do anymore. So I shouldn't care that Pepper had taken over to company. She would sure do a better job than dad had been doing lately. Maybe I was upset because I had thought the job would always be sitting there waiting for me?

Well that didn't matter. If I wanted to take over in a few years, Pepper would be happy to stand down. Maybe I was upset because dad hadn't discussed it with me first? Sure, he didn't consider me in most of his business dealings but this decision involved me. He should have at least told me before he made it official.

I studied the smooth pattern of the ceiling and came to the conclusion that I was being ridiculous. It was actually good that dad had finally appointed someone responsible to be in charge of Stark Industries. Pepper could handle it and she would be amazing at it. And she deserves a promotion. I'm sure she was looking forward to having a bit of freedom and not having to follow dad around constantly.

I went back downstairs with the intent of congratulating Pepper properly.

"J.A.R.V.I.S had Pepper left?"

"Miss Potts left seven minutes ago."

Damn it. I made a mental note to congratulate her tomorrow.

Instead of going back upstairs, I found myself descending the steps into the garage. I pushed in the password on the 'keypad' in the glass and pushed open the door. A quick glance showed me that it was empty which was unusual, especially at this time of the night. I walked across the cold tiles to the glass cabinets along one of the walls. Inside were four Iron Man suits, including the original one he made while being held captive in Afghanistan.

I walked past each one, my fingers running along the glass. I came to stand before the first suit, a very crude version of the complex and sleek one dad was now using. My eyes wandered over the bulky contraption, trying to imagine dad creating it, desperate to escape. What would life be like now if he had never gone over there? We sure wouldn't have these suits, but would that be such a bad thing?

It was useless to think like that. Besides, Obadiah had ordered the Ten Rings to murder dad in Afghanistan so if he had never gone over there, he would have just gotten someone else to do the job here. And he might have not survived it.

"You know Stark Industries yours the day you want it."

I spun around. Dad was striding towards me. His eyes were locked on my face, reading my expression. I smiled gently, a genuine one.

"I know Dad. But I'm not even sure if I want it anymore." I looked up into his eyes as he came to stand beside me.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Why didn't you tell me about the videos? The ones you showed at the Senate."

He sighed like he had been expecting the question.

I answered for him. "Because you remember our conversation down here and showing them to me would have been a big 'I told you so'."

"Exactly," he said. "You were right Morgan. But as you saw in the videos, no one is even close to perfecting the technology." He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me in close. "You need to stop worrying so much. I will handle all of it."

I smiled up at him. "That's what worries me so much." I pulled back to stare up into his face. "I love you dad and I trust you and the suit but I don't trust everyone else and I just worry that one day something is going to happen and the suit won't save you." I loved my dad more than anyone else in the world and all I wanted to do was protect him but he never made that easy. "What do I do with all this?" I asked, gesturing to the suits.

Dad frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Heaven forbid you die, what am I suppose to do with all this? And the company? I don't know what to do and I'll be all alone and all these suits-"

Dad cut me off by pulling me into a fierce hug. I clung to him, suddenly overwhelmed with sadness. What would happen if he died? I wouldn't know the first thing to do. And how would I cope with losing him? I would have no family left, it would be just me.

"Don't worry Morgan, I'm not going anywhere." He held me a moment longer before letting me go but keeping his hands on my arms. "And you will never be alone. You will always have Pepper."

"I know. I'm just...feeling lost."

He pulled me back in for another hug. I breathed in his scent, wanting to remember it forever, and never wanting to let him go.


	5. Chapter 5

The next few days passed quickly with so much going on, especially for Pepper. After I congratulated her properly, she informed me that she was now looking for a replacement to become dad's new personal assistant. She had already interviewed over 10 women suitable for the position yet, after briefing him on each one, dad turned them all away, finding some miniscule flaw they had. After some debating, she had gotten him to agree to meet three of them tomorrow before we headed off to Monaco.

Even though Pepper wasn't exactly leaving, I was still going to miss her. She had been dad's PA since I was a kid and in that time we had grown extremely close. She had stuck around when so many would have left and she had helped dad so much, more than he knew. She had become more than a friend to me. Running dad's company would be harder than running around after dad so I knew the amount of time we would get to spend together would decrease. I hoped she would still find time to see me once she was running dad's multi-billion dollar business.

I doubted that I would become close with dad's next PA. Even so, I wanted a choice in who dad picked considering how much time I would be around them. I don't want to end up with someone I don't like.

With that in mind, I made my way down to the exercise room after being informed by J.A.R.V.I.S that both Pepper and dad were there. I walked in, just in time to see a woman slam Happy to the ground in the boxing ring, with his head in-between her feet.

"Oh my god!" I said, while Pepper screeched "Happy!"

A moment later the woman released him and got to her feet, followed by an unsteady Happy. I quickly walked into the room to stand by Pepper as dad went over to the ring.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked Pepper as I eyed the woman standing in the ring. She was extremely attractive with long brown hair in soft curls, a slim figure and full pink lips. What the hell was she doing in the ring with Happy?

"That is Natalie Rushman from legal who is here to complete the company papers for me. And your father asked Happy to give her a lesson in the ring," she answered.

I looked at dad, in his boxing gear, talking to the woman who had stepped out of the ring. "Doesn't looks like she needs a lesson," I said.

"No," Pepper said and I could hear a hint of annoyance in her tone.

She made her way over to dad, who was now putting his thumb print on the files the woman was holding. I stepped closer to try and hear why this woman was so special that dad had put her in the ring (no one but dad and Happy ever went in the ring).

"So, how are we doing?" Pepper asked.

"Great. Just wrapping up," dad replied. He pointed to the paper. "You're the boss."

The woman, Natalie Rushman, closed the file, swung her hair and looked to dad. "Will that be all Mr Stark?"

"No."

"Yes, that will be all, Ms Rushman. Thank you very much." Pepper's smile, a smile I had seen her use many times on dad's one nighters, indicated the conversation was over and there was only one thing for her to do; leave.

As the woman walked by me, she stared into my eyes. Instantly I disliked her. I had no rational explanation as to why, it was just instinct. She something about her seemed off. Like why does a good looking woman from legal know how to body slam someone? I told myself not to worry, she was just from woman from legal.

The minute she was out the door, dad said "I want one."

"No," was Pepper's reply.

I hoped dad wasn't serious when he said he 'wanted one'. I knew with dad, and so did Pepper, that what he wanted, he got.

"So Pepper," I said as I walked over to them. "You are now officially the CEO of Stark Industries!"

Pepper grinned and I could see the sparkle in her eyes. "Yes."

"And she will do great," dad added.

Happy, slumped against the ropes of the boxing ring, sighed. "Are we done here?"  
______________________________________________________________

The one thing I hated about holidays was packing. I always put it off to the last minute.

The night before Monaco, my suitcase sat empty on my bed and would stay that way until about an hour before we left. I just find packing boring when there are so many other things I could be doing. Like doing maintenance on my Audi S5.

"J.A.R.V.I.S please put on some Fall Out Boy," I said from underneath the hood as I checked the oil level.

Immediately, my favourite song was blasting through the garage. I sang along as I worked. I was always happiest when I was in grease covered overalls working on my cars. Everything just faded away until the only thing on my mind was the car.

I was on my knees checking the tyre pressure when the song playing suddenly cut out.

"Hey!" I popped my head up to see dad entering the garage. "I was listening to that."

Although dad and I were alike in many ways, one thing we did not have in common was musical tastes. While he liked bands like AC/DC and Black Sabbath, I preferred Fall Out Boy and All American Rejects. It was a constant battle to choose what to play when we were both working down here.

"Shouldn't you be packing?" he asked.

"Shouldn't you be packing?"

He shrugged as he came to stand by my car. "I got bored."

"Me too." I watched him begin to fiddle with some of the hoses and clamps under the hood. "Dad," I said in a warning tone. It was an unspoken rule that we never touched the other's car without permission. It was a rule I found easy to follow but dad had a hard time keeping his hands off my Audi's.

"You know if you-"

"Dad!" I jumped up and waved a finger at him. "Step away from the Audi."

He held his hands up in surrender and stepped back from the car.

"Thank you," I said as I grabbed a wrench from my toolbox and began tightening the nuts on the wheels. "How's the assistant hunt going?"

"I've got a few people in mind," he said. "How's the modelling and interviewing going?"

"Fantastic," I said with clear sarcasm. "They're coming over in five minutes for my photo shoot. How do I look?" I struck a pose as dad looked at my dirty overalls, frizzy hair and grease covered face and hands.

"Beautiful," he said with sincerity.

"You liar," I said as I knelt back down to the wheels. "I still haven't decided yet if I'll do it."

"It's up to you Morgs," he said as he sat down at his desk and began typing away on one of his many computers.

"I know," I muttered.

We fell into silence as he began working on his computer and I tried to stop thinking about photo shoots and interview questions.

My eyes kept flickering back to dad as I worked. He had been spending a lot of time of his computers lately. Every time I asked what he was doing he said he was designing some new weapons for the suits. I didn't know if I believed him or not.

Chucking the wrench onto my toolbox, I grabbed a rag and sat next to the car as I tried to clean my hands. "Hey dad, can I talk to you about something?"

He looked up from his computer screens. "Of course."

I bit my lip as I averted my gaze. "Well, I don't really know how to bring it up..."

"Uh oh. What is it? Is it drugs? Are you pregnant? Do you owe someone a million dollars?"

"Dad! Come on, I'm being serious." I took a deep breath as I began wringing the rag in my hand. "I've just been thinking lately-"

"Always a bad sign."

I gave him a look which said shut up. "I've been thinking," I continued. "And this is just an idea...about moving out."

The reaction was instantaneous. His face suddenly dropped and his fingers paused on the keyboard. "Moving out?" he asked.

I stood up to walk over to him. "Yes. I know I'm only 17 but maturity wise I'm, like, 27! And it's something I've been thinking about for a while and it might not even happen for another 2 years! But I just think it would be good if I started getting some independence and space. Maybe get a job?"

Dad looked like he was struggling for words which did not happen often. "So you want some space?"

"Kind of," I said. "Look dad, eventually I will have to move out and start my life. I just feel like...now might be the right time."

"Why now?" he asked as he pushed himself away from the desk and rolled his chair closer to where I was standing. "Why not in...14 years?"

"Do you really want me living here when I'm 31?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "Just think about all the things you can do if I move! You can drink and eat all the takeaway you want. Play your music as loud as you want and bring home as many girls as you want! It's not like I will be moving to the other side of the country, like when I was at MIT. You survived that right? I'll be like 5 minutes away. I just want my own home."

"You don't like this home?" he asked.

I gave him a smile. "You know I do. But this is your home."

"This is our home," he corrected. "And soon one day it will be yours."

I frowned and opened my mouth to ask what he meant about it one day soon being mine but he spoke first.

"Can you just keeping thinking about it for a couple of months? Don't rush into anything."

I nodded. "It was only an idea. I won't go out buying any mansions just yet."

I saw the relief in his face but I also saw the sadness. I hated making him sad but he had to face the fact that one day I would move out and he would be here alone. I thought he might be at least a little bit excited or happy at the idea of getting him mansion back after 17 years. He could do whatever he wanted again without having to worry about a 17 year old girl. I guess I didn't realise how hard it would be for him to become accustomed to being alone again after so many years.

I went back to working on my Audi and dad went back to his computers. But there was something else I wanted to ask him but it gave me butterflies just thinking about it. It has been nagging at me for months, ever since we made the suit. I took in a deep breath and looked to dad again.

"Dad." He looked up from his computer screens. "There's something else I want to talk about."

"What is it?"

"I…" I knew as soon as I said it he would say no but I needed to ask anyway. "I want to try on the suit."

Once again shock registered on his face and the garage fell into silence. "You what?" he asked as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"I want to try on the suit," I repeated. "I know I'm too short for it but if we put some stacks into it I would fit and I've wanted to try it since we built it but I knew would say no but I think because I help build them I should be able-"

"Morgan, it's too dangerous," he said, cutting over the top of me.

"Oh," I said, "so it's too dangerous for me but it's perfectly fine for you?"

Dad nodded. "Yes."

"That is so hypercritical," I said. "Come on. I deserve to try it on. I'm not going to flying across the state, I just want to try it on here. You're a hero to so many people and for one moment I just want to know what that might feel like, even if it's just trying on the suit. Please dad." I looked at him dead in the eyes. "Please."

He stared at me and the seconds ticked by. It was a full minute before he sighed and nodded. I wanted to scream with excitement but I managed to contain myself. "Thank you!"

"But only the boots," he said quickly.

I wanted to argue but right now I would take what I was given. "Okay." I pulled off my overalls so I was just in shorts and a plain tee. I looked expectantly at dad who looked surprised.

"Now?" he asked.

"Of course!" I said. I wanted to do it before he changed his mind and said no.

I watched as he reluctantly stood and got the boots we used when designing the Mark II. "Now you're only going to use one percent thrust," he said as he helped me into the boots. "Make sure you find your centre of balance otherwise you'll go ass over head." He passed me the hand stabilizers before handing me a small harness to hold an arc reactor to power the boots. "Don't try anything fancy. Just power up then come back down," he said while opening the safe which contained his spare arc reactor. After Obadiah had stolen his arc reactor and dad had almost died, we made sure that there would always be an arc reactor on hand in case of emergencies. He hooked up the wires from the boots and stabilizers into the arc reactor while lecturing me about what not to do.

Frankly I was thinking if dad could do it, so could I. If he could fly around the world saving people, I'm sure I could fly around the garage. I was grinning from ear to ear with excitement. Ever since we built Mark II I had wondered what it would be like to use it; now I was finally going to find out. I wiggled my toes in the boots, which were way too big for my feet, but I wasn't going to say anything to dad. I didn't want him to suddenly change his mind.

"Okay." He helped me walk over to the middle of the garage so I wouldn't fall flat on my face. The boots were incredibly heavy but not uncomfortable, just unusual. "Okay, just squeeze your left hand to power up and again to kill power."

"Dad, I helped you build these remember? I know how it works."

Dad help his hands up in defence as he backed away. I could tell he was itching to tell me to be careful but thankfully he kept his mouth shut. I took in a deep breath and adopted a steady stance. I squeezed my hand and the thrusters in the boots flared into life. The repulsors in my palms activated and before I knew it I was floating 7 feet above the ground. I felt myself tipping backwards so I leaned forward and threw my hands out to the side to stabilize myself.

"This is amazing!" I said when I finally felt steady. It was definitely harder than it looked but it was exhilarating. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I finally understood how dad felt every time he put on the suit. It. Was. Amazing. It was like nothing I've ever felt before and these were only the boots. I couldn't imagine how putting on the whole suit would feel.

I tiled forward ever so slightly and I went flying across the garage.

"Careful," dad said but I had control, I knew what I was doing. Unlike dad's first time flying, I made sure to stay away from the cars and our desks. I wanted to keep going but dad looked so on edge that I took pity on him and flew back to my start position. I squeezed my hand and the power died, sending me to the floor. Dad immediately came forward and grabbed my hand to keep me from falling backwards.

I beamed at him. "That's incredible."

"Yeah it is," he said. He helped me out of the boots while my mind began wandering. I finally got why he kept putting that suit on day after day. Almost every day dad would put it on and fly out of here, leaving me behind, wondering what it felt like to be Iron Man. I finally had gotten to feel what it was like. The feeling I got from just flying around the garage was amazing. I couldn't image how it would feel flying across the country in it. It was exhilarating and addictive. Already I was itching to try the boots on again, or better yet, try on the actual suit. But there is no way Dad will let me in the suit, at least not for now. Maybe if I wear him down he'll say yes eventually. Who knows?

All I know is that I was determined to fly again. Someday.


	6. Chapter 6

The plane trip over to Monaco went surprisingly fast. I was determined to enjoy my time over there. I didn't want to worry about the government taking our suits or anything else. I was going to have fun.

I spent the first day shopping, travelling from store to store. As usual, Pepper had brought her work with her, although I understood why. She was a newly appointed CEO of a multi-billion dollar business. I would want to work on my holiday too. So I spent the day alone but I didn't care. I didn't worry. I focused on the colours of dresses, the feel of tops, the sparkle of jewellery. I think I was a bit too focused on trying to enjoy myself because in that first day I spent $9,000. I was normally conservative when it came to spending, even though I had thousands to spare. I guess I had been so determined to enjoy myself that I hadn't paid too much attention to the price tags. I wasn't worried though. The $9,000 I spent wouldn't even make a dent in my bank account and dad would just be happy to see me doing something normal.

I stashed the bags in the closet of my hotel room. As always when we travelled, we all had separate rooms, for which I was glad. I felt like being alone for a few hours. I paced around the room and inspected it, busying my mind. It was a new hotel that had been designed and decorated to look like an old one. Intricate gold paintwork adorned the walls which balanced with the classic cream furniture in the rooms. I studied the beautiful glass chandelier in the sitting room and the similar one in the bedroom. The bathroom was stunning with a clawfoot tub and gold leaf wallpaper.

Even though we came to Monaco almost every year, we never stayed in the same hotel. Dad always got Pepper to pick a new one each time. It was a bit annoying but fun at the same time. Every hotel was different and I loved finding each ones quirks.

After a restless night's sleep, I prepared myself for a day of rubbing shoulders with blonde bimbos who inherited daddy's money and rich old couples who drink tea like its vodka and complain about the clothes girls wear. No matter what event it is or where it's held, the same types of people always attended these rich shindigs. Almost all the people that would be there today in the 'exclusive area' wouldn't give a crap about the amazing race happening right outside. They will be there simply because it's the place to be 'seen'. I hated being associated with them when I would be more than happy to stand in the crowd outside and watch the cars like the normal people do. I had done that in previous years but since dad's announcement, more people knew who I was and I was told that my safety could not be guaranteed outside. So I was stuck inside, watching the race on TV screens and pretending to care about what people were talking about.

I sighed as I stood in front of the closet, surveying the clothes I had packed. I was torn between wearing a dress, which was expected of ladies at these events, or just saying "stuff it" and wearing my favourite jeans. After a minute of thinking, I grabbed a dress that I bought while out shopping yesterday. No doubt people would be taking photos there and the last thing I wanted was to be put in a magazine for wearing jeans as such a high class event.

I slipped into the chosen, appropriate dress. It was a cocktail length dress in a deep purple. One shouldered with a small side waist bow, it was tight enough to show my curves but not tight enough to be considered inappropriate. The only effort I put into my appearance was brushing my hair, which had nice waves in it from how I'd slept on it, and applying some mascara. I really couldn't be bothered doing anything more. Besides, I looked fine without makeup. I slipped my feet into a pair of simple black pumps, grabbed a black clutch and, after I gave myself a nod of approval in the mirror, I joined Pepper and dad in his room for breakfast. Pepper complimented me on my dress, so I knew I'd chosen right. I returned the compliment on her dress which made dad ask why he wasn't receiving any about his clothes. So then we both made exaggerated remarks about his wonderful fashion sense.

After breakfast we jumped into the Rolls Royce chauffeured by Happy and began driving through the streets of Monaco, accompanied by two policemen on motorbikes. With no rear facing seat in the car, it was a tight squeeze with dad in the middle seat and Pepper and I on either side. While Pepper spoke to dad about yet another thing that needed to be dealt with regarding Stark Industries, I studied his face. Not for the first time I noticed he had bags under his eyes. With each day that passed they seemed to be getting worse and their darkness was only accentuated by the paleness of his skin. I had just been ignoring it for the past month or so but I couldn't pretend everything was fine anymore. Something was worrying him and it was beginning to affect his health. What was it? I know something had been going on with him that he didn't want to talk about and I had been telling myself that it was fine, that if something was really wrong, he would tell me about it. But he still wasn't talking and he could deny it all he wanted but something was wrong.

What? It couldn't be anything that had happened recently because this had been going on for at least 2 months. Was it the suit or the business or his health-

"What are you staring at?"

I blinked. Dad was looking down at me with a grin on his face. My mind briefly entertained the idea of slapping his face and yelling at him until he told me what was wrong but he was so stubborn it probably wouldn't work.

I smiled. "Nothing," I answered sweetly.

I moved my gaze to look out the windshield but I could still feel dad's eyes on my face. Does he know I know something is wrong? He must. I'm far from stupid but even the thickest person could see something was bothering him.

Eventually I felt his eyes leaving my face as he resumed his conversation with Pepper. But a moment later I felt another pair of eyes on me. I glanced up to see Happy looking at me in the rear-view mirror. A second later his eyes were back on the road. No words had passed between us but the message in his eyes had been clear. He too was worried about dad and knew something wasn't right, and hadn't been for a long time. Now I know for sure that I wasn't just 'seeing things' or creating things in my head that weren't true. Happy and I were both concerned about dad. But what were we going to do about it?

I decided this wasn't really the time to think about it when the screams of the people outside interrupted my thoughts. I looked at the thousands of people lining the barricades, most of them screaming as they wondered what celebrity was arriving. What I wouldn't give to be one of them. Idolizing people who often didn't deserve it. Not worrying about their father killing himself in a flying suit. Just being normal. But I bet most of the people out there wanted to be anything but normal. It was sad really, how no one was completely happy with their life. Everyone wanted to change something; to be richer, happier, skinner. No one would ever be 100% happy.

As we slowed to a stop in front of the Hôtel de Paris, I took a deep breath and plastered a smile on my face. Immediately a man in a suit stepped forward and opened my door. I never understood the need for them. I have hands; I can open my own door.

I stepped out carefully but swiftly. People began cheering and screaming. I wondered if they actually knew who I was or if they were simply cheering for the sake of cheering. When dad stepped out after me, the screams intensified. I immediately walked up the steps to the open doors leading inside while dad grinned at the crowd and did a peace sign. When Pepper walked around the car, he smiled and followed her up the steps.

I stepped aside to let them enter first. I looked around, noting that while the hotel was beautiful, nothing made it stand out among the thousands of other fancy hotels I'd been in. As I trailed behind dad and Pepper, I looked at all the people milling around with drinks in their hands. As expected, most of them were girls in pastel dresses, guys in expensive suits and old couples with teacups in hand.

As I followed dad and Pepper into the main area of the lobby, I heard dad say, "You know it's Europe. Whatever happens in the next 20 minutes, just go with it."

The smile on my face immediately dropped. What had he done?

Pepper looked as concerned as I did. "Go with it? Go with what?"

A second later we got our answer.

Natalie Rushman. She was standing in front of us in a coral pink, skin tight dress. Of course. Of course dad would hire the girl who didn't even apply for the position of his personal assistant. Of course he'd hire her without considering or discussing it with anyone else. Of course he'd hire the woman I didn't like even though I'd only spent 1 minute with her. Call it intuition or whatever you want, but something about her just seemed off. Why would someone who could speak French, Italian, Russian, Latin and who modelled in Tokyo suddenly start working in the legal department of Stark Industries? No one in legal, in fact no one in the whole company, had a background like that. Modelling to legal? Maybe one day she decided to get a steady job? I don't know. But until I did, I wasn't going to warm up to her. Maybe it was because I was so young when Pepper started with dad or because Pepper is just such an amazing individual but I knew that I would never be close to dad's new PA.

"Mr Stark." Natalie smiled as she stepped towards our little group. Her eyes briefly flickered to Pepper and myself but quickly flew back to dad. "How was your flight?"

"It was excellent. Boy, it's nice to see you."

A waiter appeared carrying a tray with drinks and a glass bowl of peanuts. Dad instantly picked up the scotch made for him. Pepper, who was still looking stunned at Natalie's sudden appearance, slowly picked up her vodka tonic from the tray. Nothing for me on the tray. Thanks Natalie.

"We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don't mind," Natalie said before taking both of the drinks from their hands and replacing them back onto the tray.

While the photographer stepped forward and began taking shots, I slid around to stand behind him and out of shot. Both Pepper's and dad's faces were strained as they mumbled to each other while still trying to maintain a smile for the camera.

The photographer took one last shot before he slipped away and Natalie stepped forward. "Right this way," she said. Dad immediately trailed after her while saying, "you look fantastic."

The look on Pepper's face as she picked her drink up and followed them said it all. I stared at the back of Natalie's head as she spoke to dad about a dinner. I suddenly remembered every movie I'd seen where the kids drive off the mean nanny/stepmother/evil woman and they live happily ever after. If I had still been a kid, I would have tried it on Natalie. But since I was a bit too old for such tactics, I resigned myself to the fact that I'd just have to wait it out and see if Natalie would last. She'd been dad's PA for what, 5 minutes? And I was already praying that she would leave. Maybe I should give her a chance? She hadn't actually done anything for me to not like her. Maybe I was just being petty because she was replacing Pepper?

While dad inspected the table Natalie was trying to make ours and Pepper spoke to Elon Musk, I made my way over to the bar. Although there were many young girls there, I was by far the youngest so my presence was drawing many stares. Especially at the bar where, being underage, I could only order non alcoholic drinks. I tried to keep my face impassive as I stared ahead, waiting for the bartender to take my order. I had so many feelings rolling around in my head but I made sure my face didn't show any of them. I was wishing I could go back home already but I quickly realized that going home would give me no relief since Natalie will follow. I wasn't looking forward to meeting her in the morning in my PJ's.

"By the way, I didn't mean to spring this on you," dad said.

Pepper squeezed in beside me and placed her drink on the bar.

Dad stood in front of us with a familiar smirk on his face. "Green is not your best colour," he said to Pepper.

"Oh please."

I sighed and leant against the bar. Just when the thought that it couldn't get any worse crossed my mind, a familiar and irritating voice called out from down the bar.

"Anthony! Is that you?"

The reaction on dad's face was instantaneous. His eyes widened in annoyance and his face became tense. "My least favourite person on Earth," he said just as Hammer came up behind his and clapped him on the back. "Justin Hammer."

"How you doing?" Justin asked with a stupid grin on his face.

Dad locked eyes with Pepper, clearly communicating his desire for help. Pepper subtly shook her head with a tight lipped smile. Before dad could turn those eyes on me, I spun around to face the bar and order my coke.

"You're not the only rich guy here with a fancy car," I heard Hammer say with a laugh that didn't quiet conceal the hostility in his tone. "You know Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair?"

Oh, my day couldn't get any better. First Natalie, now Christine. There is nothing like the awkwardness of meeting dad's one night stands in public.

"You guys know each other?"

I gratefully took my coke from the bartender, hoping the sugar and caffeine would give me enough energy to get through the day. I turned around as Christine Everhart, dressed in a tight turquoise dress, approached us with a smile.

"Yes." Pepper smile showed that while she was less than happy with this reunion, she was clearly enjoying watching dad squirm.

"Yes, roughly," was dad's reply.

Christine's eyes briefly flickered over to me before quickly looking away. No doubt she was remembering our first encounter where she was dressed in nothing but my dad's shirt.

"BTW, big story," Hammer said as he waved a finger towards Pepper, "the new CEO of Stark Industries. Congratulations."

Christine laid on her thickest smile as she looked to Pepper. "I know, I know. My editor will kill me if I don't grab a quote for our Powerful Women issue."

"Oh."

"Can I?"

I could see the clogs turning in Pepper's mind as she weighed the pro's and con's. "Sure."

Hammer was obviously feeling left out as he quickly butted in. "She's actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair. I thought I'd throw her a bone, you know."

Pepper managed to look interested in his news. "Right. Well, she did quite a..spread on Tony last year."

I bit the inside of my lip as I watched Pepper's double entendre register with Christine. Her face became tense and her smile strained as she tried to keep her composure.

Dad decided to add to the fun. "And she wrote a story as well."

Pepper nodded. "It was very impressive."

Sipping my coke, I had to smile as I watched dad and Pepper unite. It was always fun to watch someone being subtly insulted and not being able to call them out for it. And the look on Hammer's face as he registered their meaning was priceless.

Christine's eyes were wide in anger but she took the small compliment anyway. "Thank you."

"I'm gonna go wash." Pepper was clearly over this little meeting and desperate to escape.

Dad's eyes widened as he whispered "don't leave me." But Pepper was already weaving her way through the thin crowd before dad had even finished. He quickly looked to me and flashed me a look that said 'leave and all your inheritance is gone'. My first instinct was to simply walk away but I had nothing better to do and I didn't want to leave and risk having to meet Natalie. We hadn't 'officially' met yet and I wasn't looking forward to it.

So instead I stayed and watched as Hammer clapped dad on the back and put on a false smile as a photographer began taking pictures of them. Once again I stepped back so I wasn't in the picture. I didn't want to be in the magazines more than I already was. That's why I was so hesitant about this magazine shoot I was being asked to do. Before Iron Man, I had rarely made the pages. Some people hadn't even known Tony Stark had a child. But now with so many eyes watching dad, they were watching me too. People knew who I was now and I hated it. I couldn't go anywhere without a guard anymore whereas before I could go out without being recognised.

Dad slid on his sunglasses and grimaced as Hammer pulled him closer. The photographer kept clicking away. Everyone knew they hated each other so why bother with the fake display of comradeship?

Meanwhile, Christine was taking the opportunity to try and get a quote from the pair. "Is this the first time that you guys have seen each other?"

Neither of the men were paying attention to her as the photographer took one last shot. Dad stepped away from Hammer with a shudder. "God that was awful."

"Listen," Christine held up her small voice recorder, "is it the first time you've seen each other since the senate?"

"Ah, since he got his contract revoked," dad replied.

Dad began walking away while Christine and Hammer quickly followed. I heard Hammer quickly say "actually it's on hold," as he trailed behind.

I smiled with the news. At least something good had come from that stupid senate.

I downed my drink and ordered another one as I watched dad sit down at Hammer's table. I quickly walked in the opposite direction so dad couldn't shoot me another 'help' look. He was a big boy. He would survive.

I did a quick circuit of the room before I spotted Pepper sitting at the corner table dad had requested.

"Hey Pep." I slid into the seat opposite Pepper. "Has dad not escaped yet?"

"He's in the bathroom."

I grinned at her. "Did you hear Hammer got his contract revoked after the senate?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Pepper's mouth as she nodded. She informed me that after the video of Hammer's poor attempt to replicate our suit suddenly appeared on the internet not long after the senate, stocks had dropped dramatically and many companies had pulled funding from Hammer Industries. I was surprised that some companies still had faith in Hammer Industries. No matter how hard Hammer tried, Stark Industries would always be superior.

Minutes ticked by and dad had still yet to return from the bathroom. While waiting for him I looked up at the TV to see the Formula One cars being driven into their starting positions. If dad didn't hurry up, he would miss the start of the race.

I pulled out my phone and began surfing the web. I read a few articles on Hammer and found out that most of the world was laughing at him. I would have felt sorry for him had he not been such a prick.

I had just been considering texting dad to see where he had gotten to when across the table Pepper gasped.


	7. Chapter 7

"What is it?" I asked with concern.

She didn't answer. I followed her gaze to the television where I saw something that couldn't be real. That couldn't be dad, clad in a blue racing suit, preparing to race our Formula One car. Because that would be crazy. And incredibly stupid of him.

"Natalie. Natalie!" Pepper looked around for the woman who quickly hurried up to our table.

"Yes Miss Potts?"

"Did you know about this?"

Natalie immediately shook her head. "This is the first that I have known of it."

Pepper looked dismayed as everyone in the hotel began looking to the TV and wondering just what in the hell the billionaire was doing. "This...this cannot happen."

"Absolutely," Natalie agreed. "I understand. How can I help you?"

"Where's Happy?"

"He's waiting outside."

"Okay, get him. I need Happy."

"Right away." Natalie immediately left to go and find Happy.

My jaw had literally dropped as I watched dad put on his helmet and slip into the car. Half of my mind was still trying to convince me that this wasn't real. How could he be so stupid and reckless? Yes, he liked to race cars and had a little experience on race tracks but that did not make him qualified to get into a Formula One car and drive it in an international race against drivers that had years of experience. This had to be one of the most irresponsible and careless things he had ever done. Not only was he putting himself in danger by driving the damn thing, he was also putting the other drivers in danger. What on earth was going through his mind when he decided to do this?

Why wasn't anyone putting a stop to this? Probably because no one wanted to tell the famous billionaire what to do. I was hoping that someone, anyone, might pull him out but those hopes were dashed when the lights went on and the race began.

I clutched my phone so tightly that I was surprised it didn't break as I watched the cars take off around the track. I began praying in my mind, begging for him to be fine. He would drive, finish the race and I would yell at him to never do anything so stupid. But all I could focus on as I watched the cars get up to 160 mph was the fact that drivers had died trying to finish this race.

Both Pepper and I twisted around in our seats to stare out the window as the cars flew by. It was hard to believe my dad was in one of those cars.

My eyes went back to the TV. They hadn't even done one lap yet and my whole body was already tense from the stress. And they had 77 laps to go.

Just when it seemed like this day couldn't get any worse, it did. A man dressed in an orange jumpsuit had somehow gotten past security and pushed open a gate that led onto the track. The people in the crowd screamed and stood up to look at the man who was walking down the middle on the track.

"What is he doing?" I said to no one in particular as I watched him. No sane person would walk out onto a track with cars doing more than 160 mph driving past. Was he crazy?

The man suddenly ripped open the top of his jumpsuit to reveal that he had some sort of harness attached to his upper body. And something that looked suspiciously like an arc reactor was in the middle of the harness.

A feeling of dread spread through my body as he pulled out a pair of electrified whips. There could only be one reason he was here. He was after dad.

From what I could see on the screen, the whips were being powered from the arc reactor on the harness. The top of his jumpsuit burnt away as he powered up the whips.

I was beginning to panic which only intensified as a car came around the corner. Everyone watched in horror as the man swung a whip which sliced clean through the front of the car. The force of the attack caused it to flip over until it hit the barrier and came to a stop.

This couldn't be happening. This man couldn't be here to attack dad...to kill him.

"We have to do something!" I said desperately to Pepper. She had a similar expression of horror on her face. I wasn't going to just sit here and watch on TV as some mad man attacked everybody. I had to do something. And that's when I saw Happy standing by the door. He lifted his hand to show me that he had dad's suitcase armour.

I instantly thanked god that Happy had brought it with him.

A minute later, both Pepper and I had thrown ourselves into the back of the car. Happy threw it into gear and began driving towards the track as fast as he could.

My heart was pounding as I imagined what was happening on the track now. How long did dad have before he drove around the corner to see the man waiting to kill him? Had he already been attacked? Was he...?

No. He would be fine.

But how could he defend himself against a whip wielding man when he had nothing? He needed his suit.

"Go! Go!" I urged Happy. I knew Happy was going as fast as he could but it wasn't fast enough for my liking.

Up ahead a yellow guarded gate came into view. "Hang on!" Happy cried as he sped towards the gate that led onto the track. The pair of guards waving their arms at him to stop managed to dive out of the way a split second before we went crashing through the gate. The car jerked and served and without my seatbelt on, my head went smashing into the car door.

I grimaced from the pain but pushed it from my mind. We were hurtling down the track, dodging the few race cars that had managed to make it pass the man before he had walked onto the track. I began to worry when they stopped coming past. What was the man doing now?

My head was throbbing as I realized hitting the door had made a cut on my forehead. I could feel a steady stream of blood weaving a course down my face. I blinked the blood out of my eye and grabbed the seat in front of me to steady myself as we went flying around a corner.

"Give me the case!" Pepper yelled as she steadied herself using the back of Happy's seat.

While still keeping his eyes on the road, Happy reached down and hastily passed Pepper the case.

"Where's the key?"

Happy jerked the wheel as he dodged an oncoming car. "It's in my pocket!"

Pepper instantly reached over and searched his jacket pocket, quickly coming up with the key.

How far away were we? I hated feeling helpless! I was sitting in a car while my father could be dying!

The last time I had felt this powerless had been six months ago on the night my father and I had almost died; the night I had tried so hard to forget. All the memories and feelings of helplessness came flooding back.

I spotted smoke in the sky a moment before we went around a corner and we saw what had happened while we had been trying to get here. More cars were lying damaged on the road while two were burning out of control. My heart stopped as I saw one of the cars lying upside down was dads.

"Oh my God!" Pepper screamed as we flew towards the damage.

Through the smoke we could see dad standing in front of the man who was advancing on him, ready to kill. I had no idea what we were going to do when I realized Happy wasn't slowing down as we hurtled towards them both.

"Hold on!" he yelled.

I went scrambling for my seatbelt as my mind comprehended what he was going to do. I braced myself for the crash and prayed that dad moved out of the way in time.

I was thrown against the seatbelt as the car crashed head on into the railing. Pain instantly exploded in my chest as the seatbelt stopped me from hitting the seat in front of me. I gasped for air as I looked wildly around. Where was dad?

"Dad?!" I yelled. I yanked at the seatbelt holding me in place. The man who had been attacking him was pinned between the car and the railing and lying face down on the bonnet of the car. I didn't care if he was unconscious or dead, I just wanted to know my father was okay.

Relief flooded through my entire body as I saw dad jump down from the fence in front of us. Besides from a few cuts and bruises, he looked fine. I wanted to hug him. And scream at him.

"Are you okay?" I heard Happy ask him.

"Yeah," dad said as he stumbled up to Happy's window. "Were you heading for me or him?"

"I was trying to scare him!"

"Cause I can't tell!" I thought it was a little ungrateful of dad to be yelling at the guy who had just saved his life. Although I would probably be yelling if someone had almost hit me with a car.

Beside me, Pepper was hyperventilating. "Are you out of your mind?!" she screamed out of the window to dad.

Dad looked to Pepper when he suddenly spotted me next to her. His eyes quickly took in my rapid breathing and the blood on my face from the cut on my head.

"Oh yes," he suddenly said to Happy. "Let's drive my daughter towards the crazy man trying to kill me! That's a great idea!"

"Get in the car!" I yelled at him.

He walked around the back of the car, still muttering about Happy's driving. My heartbeat was just returning to normal when dad opened the front door and it was sliced in half.

I couldn't help the scream that came from my mouth as I looked over to see the man, still pinned, was now awake and swinging his whips. My first reaction was to look over at dad for help but he was standing helplessly by the car as his suitcase armour was still at Pepper's feet.

I reached for it only to be thrown back against the seat as Happy reversed the car

"What are you doing?" I asked but Happy couldn't hear me over Pepper's screams.

Happy put the car into drive and rammed into the man again.

"Hit him again!" dad was screaming from outside while Pepper was screaming inside.

I gripped the armrest as the car reversed and surged forward again. I was waiting for the man to finally get knocked out but he was just laughing.

Dad was yelling for his armour but Pepper was too busy screaming to hear him. I reached over to grab the case when a whip came down on the car. I pulled my hand away just in time. The roof began caving in from the damage as the whip came down on it again.

I was beginning to really freak out but I knew I needed to be calm. "Pepper, shut up!" I screamed at her, hoping that she might calm down a bit and throw dad the armour.

I looked out the window to see dad had walked around to Pepper's side of the car. "Give him the case!" I screamed. "Pepper!"

Finally Pepper calmed down enough to pick it up and throw it out the window.

Through the damaged car, I saw dad activate the armour and enclose himself within it. I was infinitely grateful that dad had the brilliant idea of designing a suit that was capable of travelling with us. Since he had designed and built the Mark V, he had taken it with him every time he had been away from the suits. I hated to think what would happen if he hadn't brought it with him to Monaco.

I knew that we were still very much in danger but as I watched my father become 'Iron Man', I knew that he wouldn't let anything happen to us. I wouldn't say that I had become accustomed to watching my father put on the suit and purposely put himself in danger. Every instinct in my body screamed in protest each time he left in it but, having helped design and build many of the suits he now owned, I knew their capabilities. I knew that despite the danger he put himself in he was safe inside the suit that was 95.5% titanium and 4.5% gold, I knew that the interior was coated in a dense, high-tensile synthetic fibre similar to Kevlar 49, I knew that they were able to withstand harsh attacks with various weapons. But despite knowing all this, it was still hard seeing videos of my father being shot at and attacked. It was even worse witnessing it firsthand.

The first thing Iron Man did was kick our car further down the track and out of the way of the whip man. I braced myself with the door handle as we skidded down the road then I looked past Pepper.

Iron Man raised his hand and I expected one shot from the repulsor would easily defeat this guy. But before he could even fire, the man cracked his whip and knocked his outstretched hand aside. Iron Man went to fire but again a whip knocked it down.

I was beginning to panic. It has never taken Iron Man to long to take down an enemy as they were never evenly matched. Nothing and no one could match the strength, power and technology the suit held. Yet here was this man, easily defending himself against Iron Man's attacks. My mind began running wild. Would he kill dad? Would he kill us? Would anyone else try and stop him?

My panic and fear increased tenfold when one of the whips wrapped itself around Iron Man's arm. A moment later, the other whip was around his neck. My heart was pounding furiously as I watched the man easily tug on the whips, causing Iron Man to skid across the road. I was gripping the seat beneath me to stop my hands from shaking as the man threw around my father like a rag doll. Another firm yank on the whips sent Iron Man tumbling through the air and landing on the bonnet of the car.

Pepper screamed beside me as Iron Man was dragged off the car and onto the road.

I needed to do something! This feeling of helplessness was consuming. Adrenaline was pumping through my body, tempting me to do something reckless. I could not just sit here and watch my father being thrown around by a man whose only intent is to kill him. But what could I do against a man with electrified whips?

My body moved before my mind could comprehend what I was doing. I had unbuckled my seatbelt and opened my door before Pepper's hand shot out to grasp my wrist.

"No!" she cried with desperation. "Morgan don't!"

"Pepper, I can't just sit here! I have to do something!" I had no idea what I planned to do but something had to be better than nothing!

"Wait," she said.

I was about to tell her that I couldn't wait when I saw why she had stopped me. The battle wasn't over yet but it looked like it was about to be. The whips were still wrapped around Iron Man but he was using that to his advantage. He was winding the whips around his body, shortening their lengths and drawing the man in closer. As soon as he was within reaching distance, Iron Man flipped him over his head and slammed him onto the road. Reaching down, Iron Man yanked the arc reactor from the harness, rendering the whips powerless.

By the time I had run from the car, police and security had surrounded the man. The crowd that still remained cheered for Iron Man as the man was dragged away.

"You lose!" the man cried in a thick Russian accent. Blood was dripping down his chin but he smiled. "You lose Stark!" The look in his eyes haunted me as he laughed, like this had all been just a game to him, like people's lives hadn't been at stake.

I threw myself against Iron Man and wrapped my arms around him. The hard, cold metal pressed against me but I hugged him tighter. I needed to be close, to know that he was okay. I never wanted to let him go.


	8. Chapter 8

The waiting was killing me.

I was pacing in the hotel room, trying to think about anything besides the fact that my father was currently talking to a crazed man who only hours ago had tried to kill him. Yes, the man was locked up but that didn't make me feel any better.

I stopped my pacing and sat on the end of the bed. The medication the paramedics had given me was beginning to wear off and the throbbing in my head was crawling back. After all the 'excitement' of today, my body was begging sleep but the paramedics had advised me to stay awake for the next few hours in case I had a concussion and besides, I don't think I could close my eyes without knowing that dad was back here safe and sound.

After dad had, reluctantly, gone to the paramedics and been given the all clear, he had told me of his intentions to go and see the man who had attacked us. I had begged him not to but he was adamant that he go and find out why the man had attacked us and how he managed to build an arc reactor. I wanted answers just as much as he did, I just wished that there was another way to get them.

The clock on the wall seemed to be ticking abnormally slow. I needed something to distract myself. My hand instantly reached for the television remote but that idea quickly disappeared when I reminded myself that most channels would be showing footage of the attack which was the last thing I wanted to see. I was afraid that if I watched it, I would find out something horrible like one of the drivers who had been in the accident had died or an innocent bystander had been hit by a piece of flying debris.

I just wanted to forget the attack but I knew that would be virtually impossible. Six months had passed since the last time I had been attacked and the psychological issues were just beginning to fade but I would forever have scars. And this new attack had just given me a few more.

For 16 years I had a nice, cushioned life. The only danger I had ever been in was when dad almost burnt down the house trying to make meatloaf. Now I had to come to terms with the fact that so long as my father was flying around in gold titanium alloy suit, my life would constantly be in danger. And I know that dad will try to protect me as much as he can but there will always be targets on our backs.

And I was scared. But I could never let dad see that.

My mind was racing. Was this attack just the beginning? Were more on the way? If so, I couldn't rely on dad to protect me forever. An idea was beginning to blossom in my mind when I heard the door open.

Leaping off my bed, I ran out into the main room to see dad walking in. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. They were clouded with worry. The next thing I noticed was the purple and black bruise forming on the side of his face. He was lucky that was the only injury he had sustained in the fight.

"Hey Morgs," dad said when he saw me waiting for him. The worry and uneasiness instantly vanished from his face.

"Hey dad." I hugged him quickly before following him to the large gold table that was situated in front of one of the large open windows. "So...?" I prompted.

"So what?" he asked as he sat down and put his feet up on the table.

"So," I said as I sat down next to him and pushed his feet off the table that probably cost over $10,000. "Did the guy say anything?"

I watched as a number of micro expressions went across his face and I knew that he was internally debating how much he should tell me.

"Please tell me the truth," I said with a determined face.

After studying my face for a moment, as if trying to gauge how serious I was, he nodded. "What do want to know?"

"Why did he attack you?" I asked instantly.

"Because he wanted to show that it could be done. In his own words 'if you can make God bleed, then people will cease to believe in Him.'"

"So the whole point of attacking you was to prove that you're not as...undefeatable as you seem?"

Dad nodded in response as I thought it over. The man was probably getting exactly what he wanted as the footage of the attack was more than likely on the internet minutes after it began not to mention all the television cameras that were streaming live. Everyone around the world would see those images and realize that Iron Man wasn't as untouchable and infallible as portrayed. People might lose faith in him. All the good work he has done might be undone by one man.

"How did he manage to build an arc reactor? It wasn't as refined as ours but he had the basic design," I said.

"He said he got it from his father, Anton Vanko," he answered.

I frowned at the unfamiliar name. "Who's that?"

Dad stretched out in the chair before replying. "I have no idea but I plan to find out."

"Did he say anything else?" I asked.

There was an imperceptible paused before he answered. "He said that the Stark family were all thieves and butchers and soon the last 2 Starks would be gone."

I knew dad was watching my reaction so I kept my face impassive even though the threat was enough to send a shiver down my spine. What on earth could make that man hate our family enough to want to kill us? I wondered if there was more he had told dad that he was keeping from me but I didn't want to push it right now.

"Well he's in jail now so I think that's an empty threat," I said in a neutral tone. I didn't want dad to see just how shaken this attack, and now threat, had left me. "Was that all he said?"

"Yes." He decided to change the subject before he could ask any more questions. "How's your head?"

My hand flew up to the small butterfly stitches that the paramedics had applied to the cut above my eyebrow. I had refused to go to the hospital and get surgical stitches. Dad hadn't been too happy but went along with it because he knew about my fear of needles, something that had developed six months ago during my stay in hospital.

"It's fine," I said. "How's your face?"

Dad grinned as he sensitively touched the purple bruise underneath his eye. "It's good. I think it boots my 'handsome saviour' image."

I smiled at him but that quickly faded. "You know driving that car was a stupid thing to do. What were you thinking?"

The sparkle in his eyes instantly vanished as the conversation went to the topic he obviously wanted to avoid. But I wanted to talk about it so I could understand why he had thought it was a good idea. "What's the point of owning a race car if you don't drive it?"

"I own a patch of land on the moon. Does that mean I should move there?" He rolled his eyes at my sarcastic comment. "That's not an excuse for what you did. You already put yourself in danger every time you put on the suit and it makes me stressed. Can you please promise not add to that stress by driving race cars around a dangerous track?"

"Can you please promise not to put yourself in danger by driving towards a crazed madman?" he responded.

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "What was I suppose to do? Sit in a fancy hotel and watch you get attacked by a man with electrified whips?"

"Morgan, you can't go running out-"

I knew I had to stop him before he went on raving for ages.

"Okay, let's just admit that we both did stupid things and promise that we won't do them again?"

Dad nodded but we both knew that promise wouldn't hold. Even if it wasn't driving a car in an international race, dad would do something else just as ridiculously stupid. I was just worried the next time he did, the Iron Man armour wouldn't be there to save him.  
__________________________________________________________________

"It's just unbelievable. It proves the genie is out of the bottle and this man had no idea what he's doing. He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy."

Senator Stern's face was looking as smug as ever as he gave a TV interview regarding the events in Monaco yesterday. My hand was clenched around the remote as I watched the Senator talk about how reckless and immature my father is. My urge to throw the remote at the TV was increasing by the second so I decided to turn it off before I actually did it.

I hated to think of the storm the press were creating back home. No doubt they would be already camped out on the tarmac, waiting for our jet to arrive.

I didn't want to get off the jet. We still had 4 hours until we landed back on American soil and I wanted them to go as slow as possible. I almost laughed at how much can change in a few days. I hadn't wanted to leave for Monaco, now a few days later I didn't want to go back to America. I was just so sick of having everyone's eyes watching us and everything we did. I just wanted a few days of peace without having to worry about things like titanium suits or crazy men trying to kill my father. I didn't know how much longer we could keep going like this. It was taking its toll on all of us.

A dull throbbing was beginning in my leg and I was sure a headache would soon follow. With a sigh, I got up from the bed I had been lying on in one of the jets bedrooms and made my way out into the main area. As I approached I could hear dad and Pepper talking. I slowed my steps and stayed around the corner as I listened. I knew it was bad to eavesdrop but I was hoping that dad might say something to Pepper about what was concerning him so much that it was affecting his health.

"Tony," Pepper said. "What are you not telling me?"

I held my breath as I leaned in closer. The silence was so loud it was deafening.

"I don't want to go home. At all." So it wasn't just me feeling that way. "Let's cancel my birthday party and uh…we're in Europe. Let's go to Venice. It's a great place to…be healthy." Dad's tone was not one I heard often. He sounded…defeated.

"I don't think now is the right time. We're kind of in a mess," Pepper replied.

"Yeah but maybe that's why it's the best time."

"I think as the CEO I need to show up-"

"As CEO I think you're entitled to a…leave."

"A leave?"

"A company retreat," dad persisted.

"A company retreat? During a time like this?" Pepper asked. It sounded like a nice idea and as much I wanted to, I knew we had to go home.

"Well, I'm just saying, to recharge out batteries and figure it all out."

"Not everybody runs on batteries Tony."

Dad may have been keeping up a brave face for my sake but now, listening to him talk to Pepper, I realised he wasn't as carefree as he wanted me to believe. These problems were troubling him as much as they were myself.

I tip toed backwards before walking forward with heavy footsteps to announce my presence. I jumped slightly as Pepper walked out into the small hallway and saw me. We didn't say anything, we just smiled.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the minibar outside the room and a couple of aspirin before walking in.

I smiled at dad which he returned until he saw the aspirin in my hand.

"Is your leg hurting you again?" he asked as I sat down opposite him.

"Just a little. It's fine." I took the aspirin before looking over to dad to see him looking at me with concern in his eyes. "Honestly, it's fine."

The truth was it wasn't a fine as I wanted him to believe. At least three times a week I was reaching for the aspirin to ease the pain that flared in my leg. Almost every morning I woke up and had to stretch for 5 minutes before I could walk on it. But I never bought this up to dad because whenever I did, pain flashed in his eyes. He blamed himself for my accident and the pain it was still causing me six months on. I only blamed one person.

"Morgan, I know you don't want to talk to anyone about it but you need to talk to someone."

I put a fake smile while butterflies started in my stomach. This was a topic I had done so well in avoiding but it looked like that was ending.

"Talk about what?" I asked.

Dad gave me a look which said 'you know exactly what I'm talking about'.

"You're right," I said as I looked out the window. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Morgan…you're hardly sleeping anymore. And when you do, I can hear you crying."

I didn't know what to say so I kept my mouth shut and continued to stare out the window, avoiding looking at him.

I heard dad sigh and out of the corner of my eye I saw him lean forward in his chair. "There's no shame in asking for help. Maybe you should think about seeing-"

"Seeing a shrink?" I asked as I finally looked to him. "It's bad enough that every time I close my eyes I replay that night in my mind. There's no way I could talk to a complete stranger about it."

"Then talk to me," he said.

I took a deep breath and resumed staring out the window. I don't know why I couldn't talk to dad about that night especially since we went through it together. I guess I just thought that the less I talked about it, the quicker it would go away. But that wasn't happening. Maybe I should just try and talk about it?

"How…how did you get over it?" I asked.

"What?"

I looked over to him, blinking quickly to try and keep the tears from forming. "Afghanistan. How did you get over it?"

His face instantly changed at the mention of the place he probably wanted to forget. I hated to bring up bad memories but I wanted to know how he did it. After everything he had been through over there, he had managed to overcome it and put it behind him. I hadn't been through even a quarter of the trauma he would have yet I was struggling.

"You don't really get over it," he said after a pause. "You just have to accept that it happened and not try to repress it."

"But I just want to forget it," I whispered.

"I know. Your injuries-"

"It's not my injuries keeping me awake at night. I laid there…thinking that you were dead. And there was nothing I could do. I…I felt so helpless. The thought that you were dead and I was alone…I never want to feel that way again."

The pain in dad's eyes was evident. "I'm sorry," he said.

"It wasn't your fault. None of us saw it coming." I took a deep breath and looked out into the clouds we were flying through. "You're right. I don't want to talk to a shrink but I…I have to talk to someone."

For the next hour we talked about that night. It was harder than I had imagined. I realised that, while dad had appeared to be fine after the attack, it had affected him more than I had originally thought. I also realised that me not being able to move on was affecting him. Hearing me cry almost every night and seeing the pain my leg caused was obviously hard for him. Maybe that was what was affecting his health? It might not be causing it but it was probably contributing to it. I suddenly felt even worse than I already did. Surprisingly after we finished talking I felt better and I think dad did too. I guess finally talking about it together was cathartic.

"Thank you dad," I said.

Dad smiled. "Anytime kiddo."


	9. Chapter 9

To say the next few days were hard would be an understatement. Pepper was trying to control the damage the attack had caused on the Stark Industries stock while Natalie, as dad's new PA, was giving statements to the press about how Iron Man is still a national hero and will continue to protect people no matter how many attacks on his life are attempted. They were both working extremely hard but the only person who could correct the situation was dad who was spending most of his time in the garage doing god knows what. There were even more paparazzi camped outside the gates than when we left, all of them waiting for him to emerge. So for the foreseeable future I was remaining inside the mansion as was dad, although everyone was trying to change that. Pepper and Natalie were desperately trying to convince dad to go out and talk to the press but he was having none of that. Even Rhodey came around to speak to dad but he emerged from the garage looking defeated and concerned. I asked him what dad had said to him but he didn't say much besides that dad wasn't going out to speak to the press.

In between the late nights and numerous phones, I had my first official meeting with Natalie. I had been sitting in my PJ's in the kitchen, eating left over pizza when I had heard the clacking of heels against the tiles. I looked up, hoping to see Pepper joining me for a snack but instead Natalie came through the door.

"Miss Stark," she said in a very professional tone. "I thought I should properly introduce myself. I'm Natalie Rushman." She stuck out her hand, waiting for me to shake it.

I briefly entertained the idea of just sitting there, letting her stand there with her hand outstretched. But I decided against it. Who knows how long she could be sticking around? I would have to get use to her if she somehow managed to put up with dad and stay on as his PA.

"Nice to meet you," I said as I shook her hand. "Please just call me Morgan."

She nodded. "Of course. I know I'm your father's PA but if you ever need anything, just let me know."

I gave her a fake smile I'm sure she saw right through. "Thank you."

I rolled my eyes the second she turned around to leave. I didn't like her at all. I had no idea what it was about her but I didn't trust her one bit. I didn't know if it was intuition or the fact that she just wasn't Pepper. Something about her just seemed off and I made a mental note to do some research on her. But in the mean time I told myself I was going to act nice. Maybe.

One of the few good things that happened was in the days after my talk with dad, I hadn't had a single nightmare. I hoped they were gone for good but I wasn't holding my breath. I was just glad to get some uninterrupted sleep for a change.

Another good thing that happened was Ivan Vanko's death. I hated that I was glad a man was dead but I couldn't pretend to feel anything other than happy that the man who had tried to kill dad was dead. Apparently there had been an explosion in the prison and he had burned to death. I felt safer knowing that there was one less person in the world trying to hurt my father. I still hadn't found out why he had tried to kill dad in the first place. Dad said he had done some research on the guy but nothing had come up that would indicate why he had been so set on destroying him. He said he was going to keep searching but told me not to worry about it anymore. But I couldn't. Ivan had spent weeks, maybe months, building a replica arc reactor and electrified whips, all in the hopes of killing Tony Stark. I didn't believe he would go to all that effort without a reason.  
___________________________________________________________________

The days ticked by until it came to the one I had been dreading; dad's birthday. Of course I wanted to celebrate dad's birthday, I just wanted to celebrate it in a low key way. I hated this party. I hated having hundreds of strangers invading my home. The morning after I always wake up to find things broken and our house a mess. I had hoped that since the Stark image had suffered slightly in the past week, dad might cancel the party but no such luck. I watched from the couch as box after box of alcohol was brought in. I moved down into the garage when the DJ began setting up his equipment.

As usual, dad was typing away on one of his computers doing god's know what. Every time I walked around to see what he was doing, he quickly switched screens. He was obviously doing something and for some reason he didn't want me to know what that was. I was dying to confront him and question him until he cracked but now wasn't the time.

"Are you sure you should be throwing this party?" I asked as I sat down at my own work station and pulled up my designing system.

"Come on Morgs, it's just a little party." That was an understatement. This party was never 'little'. It was the worst night of the year, for me at least, and I dreaded it every year. Of course, I wouldn't tell dad this since it's his birthday but I would enjoy his birthday much more if this party didn't happen.

"Besides," he continued as he typed away. "It's my birthday. Don't you want to celebrate your old man's birthday?"

I smiled, hoping it looked genuine. "Of course I do." I suddenly remembered I had dad's present waiting upstairs to give to him. While there is always a huge present table at the party, I always gave dad his present during the day when he was sober. "Wait here," I said before rushing out of the garage. Each year I struggled when buying dad a present. What do you buy a man who had everything? This year I hadn't bought him anything at all. Instead I had created a scrapbook. I'm not a very crafty girl, preferring to spend time with my cars instead, but I had decided to put some effort into this present. I had collected as many photos as I could find and put them into the book. Next to the photos I had written my memories of the day it had been taken and what it had meant to me.

I ran back down to the garage and held my present out to him.

"Happy Birthday dad."

"Thank you baby," he said with a huge grin. He let out a laugh when he saw what I had wrapped it in. I had gone down to Target and bought Iron Man wrapping paper. It was red and gold with pictures of the suit all over it. "Nice choice."

I grinned. I knew he would have a laugh at it. Dad loved the fact that stores all over the world were stocking Iron Man action figures, comics and other merchandise.

He tore open the paper and opened the book. The first photo I had put in there was one of my favourites. It had been taken out in our garden. Dad had made up a little picnic for mom and in the photo they were smiling as they sat on a rug surrounded by food. The next photo showed mom in a hospital bed, holding me gently while dad stood beside her, grinning from ear to ear. With each turn of the page, the photo's showed me growing up while mom disappeared from the pictures. Dad looked down at the photos of some of my favourite memories together: dad teaching me how to take apart an engine, me screaming as dad gave me my first car, dad standing with tears in his eyes as he watched me graduate from MIT.

I realised when I saw something fall on one of the pages that dad was crying. I was shocked. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen dad cry. I turned away briefly as he tried to hide his face and wipe them away. Like most men, he didn't like to be seen showing such emotion, even in front of his daughter.

"Thank you so much Morgan," he said with raw emotion in his voice. I surged forward and hugged him tightly. I was so glad he liked his gift. I had wanted to show him how much I loved him and how huge a part he had played in my life.

"I left the last few pages blank for future photos," I said when I pulled back from the hug.

Dad smiled weakly as he looked down at the blank pages. I could sense he wanted to be alone so I gave him another hug, told him I loved him again and left. I felt bad at making him cry but I knew it was because he was both happy and sad at seeing those photos. It was always hard to look at mom's smiling face, knowing what awful fate she met. He was also probably feeling nostalgic, looking at his daughter's life in pictures. I was growing up and wasn't a little girl anymore, but I would always be his little girl.

I climbed the stairs back up to my room, feeling glad with myself. Not even the DJ testing the volume of his speakers made me angry.  
____________________________________________________________________________

After having 3 drinks spilt on me, finding a couple making out on my bed and having my favourite picture frame broken, I was ready for the party to be over. The music was too loud, there were too many people and all I wanted to do was go to bed. For dad's sake I pretended to play nice for a little while; talking to random people, pretending that I was actually having a good time. I kept doing laps of the house, hoping to see Pepper or Rhodey but neither had shown up yet. I briefly entertained the idea of getting into my Audi and going to a movie but I quickly dismissed it. Someone had to keep an eye on dad. Usually he just got drunk until he eventually passed out somewhere; I just hung around to make sure that it wasn't the pool he passed out in.

I was doing another lap of the house, desperately searching for someone I knew or someplace to hide, when I walked into the entertaining room and saw something that made me see red. Standing with her back to dad's chest was Natalie, with a flirty grin on her face and one of the Iron Man gauntlets on her arm. I felt my mouth drop as dad whispered in her ear and a moment later the Iron Man ice statue she had been aiming at was in pieces on the floor.

Just a week ago dad refused to let me use the suit because it was 'too dangerous' and here he was letting his new PA use it as a party game.

"Are you serious?" someone behind me said. I spun around to see Pepper standing behind me with a similar look of disbelief on her face.

"I know. It's unbelievable," I said. All I wanted to do was go over there and punch Natalie in the face. I couldn't believe dad was actually letting her use part of the suit. The only explanation I could think of was that he was already drunk.

Dad suddenly noticed Pepper and I standing by the door and motioned for us to come over.

I grabbed Pepper's arm as she went to go over. "There's no way I can go over there. If I do I will probably yell at him."

"Sure," Pepper said. She probably wanted to do the same damn thing.

"Just try to stop him drinking any more than he already has." My request was wasted and, although Pepper knew it too, she nodded before leaving.

I couldn't stand there and watch my father drunkenly shoot things with his PA. As I left I prayed to God that he wouldn't do any more stupid things. And I prayed no one here would go talking to the press about this. The last thing we needed was more headlines about how irresponsible Iron Man is.

I weaved through the small crowd dancing in front of the DJ and walked up the stairs. I figured since that Pepper was now here, she could keep an eye on dad and I would escape for a while in my bedroom. Once I had made sure that there were no couples in my room, I immediately changed out of my dress into jeans and a black tee. I collapsed onto my bed but there was little chance of getting any sleep; the floor and walls were literally vibrating from the music.

I stared up at the ceiling and tried to think about anything besides the fact that my father didn't trust me enough to let me try on the Iron Man suit yet he was happy to let his assistant of one week use part of it to blast ice sculptures. I wanted to punch something but I settled for twisting my pillow in anger. If he continued on this way, there is no doubt that they will forcibly take the suits away. Someone needed to take responsibility if we were going to keep the suits.

…and that someone was me.

After trying on the boots, I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing it was using them. And after Monaco, I couldn't stop thinking about how I could be in danger and won't have anything to protect myself with. Sure, Ivan Vanko was dead now but who's to say there's not another crazy person out there plotting to kill dad? And now it's public knowledge who I am, they could easily get to dad through me. I wanted a way to protect myself and I knew exactly how to do it.

I was going to build my own Iron suit.

There is no way in hell dad would ever let me do this but right now I wasn't concerned about dad; I was concerned about all of us. As much as he doesn't want to admit it, dad can't be everywhere. What if one day he's flying off somewhere and I'm suddenly in danger? Or Pepper was?

I'm sick of feeling helpless, relying on dad to always save me. I want to save myself. I want to feel safe again, to feel like I can defend myself against anything or anyone.

As much as I wanted to run downstairs and start designing my own suit, I knew I shouldn't rush into this decision. I needed to give it more thought before I even touch a designing program or picked up a tool. There were so many things to consider: the Government would certain not be happy with another suit flying around, would I tell dad about my plans for my own suit, where would I even build it if I was going to keep it from dad?

The sound of something shattering downstairs pulled me from my thoughts. What now? I was sick of strangers destroying my home every year. I jumped off my bed and started for the stairs.  
I faltered on the stairs for a moment when I heard yelling and cheering. A feeling of dread flowed through me as I rushed down the stairs. I felt my heart drop to my stomach as I saw my father drunkenly stumbling around in the Iron Man suit.


	10. Chapter 10

"What the hell?" I asked myself as I stepped off the stairs and pushed past the cheering idiots. I watched with an open mouth as he began stumbling around and trying to DJ. He was officially out of control. This was the stupidest thing he has ever done, including racing a F1 car last week! Why would he do something like this? He was obviously blind drunk, as he was every year at this party, but the worse thing he had done before was backflip off the roof into the pool. Even in his drunken state some part of his brain should be saying 'hey, this is a stupid idea!'

I had no idea what to do. A wave of relief hit me when I saw Pepper standing in the crowd. I made a beeline for her.

"Pep!" I yelled over the music. She tore her wide eyes away from dad to stare at me. "What the hell should we do?"

"I…I don't know," she said. Her look of shock mirrored my own as we stood there watching dad chug champagne from the bottle. "I don't know what to do."

I grabbed my phone from my pocket and called the only person who might be able to control this situation.

"Rhodey!" I had never been so happy to hear his voice. "Where are you?"

"I'm outside," he said.

Instantly I was out the door, desperately searching for him. He will know what to do…I hoped.

"Morgan!"

I grinned with relief as I saw Rhodey weaving his way through the many Ferrari's, Lamborghini's and Aston Martins parked outside. I grabbed his hand and practically began tugging him inside.

"Morgan, what's wrong?" he asked.

"He's gone crazy," I said. "We don't know what to do."

His brow creased in confusion until I dragged him inside and he saw the mess that was my father. "You gotta be kidding me."

At that moment Iron Man stumbled and fell into a glass cabinet, got up and laughed as the crowd cheered.

"That's it. I'm-"

Pepper grabbed Rhodey's arm before he left. "No. Don't call anyone."

"Pepper! This is ridiculous! I just stuck my neck out for this guy."

"I know," Pepper said. "I'll…I'm going to handle it. Just let me handle it."

We watched as Pepper pushed through the crowd towards dad. I wasn't confident that Pepper was going to make dad get out of the suit.

I looked up to Rhodey. "Do you have any idea why he's acting like this? Has he said anything to you?"

I was sure I saw something in Rhodey's eyes but he shook his head. "I have no idea."

I wasn't entirely convinced but I had no time to question him as dad's voice suddenly boomed through the room. I looked over to see he had picked up the DJ's microphone. Great.

"You know the question I get asked most often?" he said with a slur. "Tony how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?"

The room went silent as everybody stared up at him. Dad squinted like he was concentrating then sighed. "Just like that."

For some stupid reason everyone starting cheering again while dad cackled with laughter. Pepper waked up behind dad with a strained smile. She took the microphone off him while dad continued to laugh. "Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?"

The crowd clapped in response.

"Tony, we all thank you so much for a wonderful night," Pepper said. "And we're gonna say goodnight now, and thank you all for coming."

I sighed in relief while everyone around me booed.

"No, no, no," dad cried as he reached for the microphone. He and Pepper started speaking and I could see the desperation in Pepper's eyes from where I stood. The crowd weren't leaving, instead they were watching the obviously tense standoff between dad and Pepper. After a minute Pepper took the bottle from dads hand and replaced it with the microphone.

"Pepper Potts." Dad stumbled down the few steps into the centre of the room. "She's right you know. The party is over. Then again, the party was over for me like an hour and a half ago. The after party starts in 15 minutes!" That earned a cheer from the crowd.

I knew he wasn't going to just give up and go to bed.

"And if anybody, Pepper, doesn't like it, there's the door!" he raised his hand to point to the door.

The familiar sound of the repulsors going off filled the room and the glass waterfall behind us shattered. Instantly I flinched in fear as the sound brought back horrible memories. I could feel the glass shards piercing my back again as Obadiah advanced on me. My heart rate skyrocketed as I remembered looking into my dying father's eyes and thinking that was the last time I would see him.

Suddenly there were a pair of arms around me. "It's okay," I heard Rhodey saying. "You're okay. You're okay." I didn't realise I had been shaking until I reached for Rhodey's hand. After a minute I took a deep breath and stepped out of Rhodey's arms.

"I'm fine," I said with faked calmness. Truth was, inside I was as scared as hell and reliving memories I wanted so much to forget. But we had bigger problems to deal with at the moment.

Rhodey was still looking at me with concern in his eyes but his attention was quickly drawn away when dad yelled.

Someone in the crowd threw a champagne bottle up into the air which dad proceeded to shoot with a repulsor. I flinched and covered my head instinctively as glass and alcohol rained down on us. Some people around me did the same while others clapped. I looked around to Rhodey only to find he wasn't there anymore. I prayed he had a plan because the only one I could think of was calling the cops, which I really didn't want to do. The cops would come, arrest dad and his face would be over the morning news. And our suits would be gone the next day.

Girls continued to throw things up in the air and drunkenly cheering as dad smashed them to pieces. Each time I flinched while dad laughed. I wanted to leave. I wanted to go somewhere and pretend that everything was fine and my dad wasn't shooting bottles for drunk chicks. I just wanted a moment where everything was okay.

Something suddenly rained down on me that wasn't alcohol. It was a watermelon. I had had enough. I turned around, ready to go to the garage and leave in my Audi when I saw Rhodey standing at the top of the steps in the Mark II armour.

"I'm only going to say this once," he said as everyone spun around to look at him. "Get out."

Everyone around me immediately scrambled for the door and within a minute the only people left in the room were dad, Rhodey, Pepper and myself. And the DJ.

"You too Morgan," Rhodey said, his voice slightly distorted by the suit.

I wanted to stay, to try and talk dad out of the suit but Pepper grabbed my hand and led me out of the room before I could say anything.

"Pepper, we have to-"

"No. We have to go," she said, leading me through the stranglers who were still running for their cars. As she threw open the door to her Audi, I heard music suddenly blast through the house. What the hell were they doing?

"Pepper, I'm not leaving," I said, shutting the car door.

A loud bang suddenly echoed through the night followed by the sound of glass smashing.

"Oh my god, please tell me they are not fighting." I spun on my heels and ran for the house. I was going to be useless against two men in titanium suits but I'll be damned if I was going to let them destroy my house.

Pepper ran after me, screaming, "Don't be ridiculous!"

I ignored her and continued for the house. More destructive sounds filled the night air and I wondered just what on earth I was going to walk in on. I almost cried when I walked back into the house to see a huge hole in the wall. They had gone straight through the wall, through the sauna and into the exercise room. Glass littered the floor and I didn't even want to go in and look at what was left of the exercise room.

I had just wondered where they hell they were when a crash rocked the roof and I heard the sound of the repulsors upstairs. This had to stop before they destroyed the whole house and sent it crashing into the ocean. I was halfway up the stairs when the roof rocked again and the sound of a crash followed.

Running down the stairs and into the entertaining room, the first thing that got my attention were the two men in suits throwing punches in the middle of the room. The second thing I noticed was the gaping hole in the roof which gave me a perfect view into my room. At that moment Rhodey wasn't the only one who wanted to punch dad in the face.

The two of them were throwing punches and trying to kick the other's ass but as they were both in suits, the match was even. The only thing they were doing was demolishing the house.

"Morgan!"

A hand suddenly wrapped around my wrist. Happy had run into the room and was tugging me towards the glass doors that lead out onto the balcony. As he did so, I noticed that not everyone had left after Rhodey had yelled at them to. Instead they had stuck around to see the fight. Some were even recording it on their phones. When Happy let my wrist go once we were outside, the first thing I did was go up to the closest person recording the fight and snatch their phone from them. He yelled in protest but before he could get it back, I had pegged it over the side of the house into the dark ocean below. I did not want this going up on YouTube. I was going for the next phone when the people around me gasped.

I spun around to see Iron Man had smashed Rhodey into the bench and had apparently knocked him unconscious. Iron Man slowly turned around to face the small crowd watching him. After a moment he adopted a fighting stance and yelled threateningly at us. The people around me instantly screamed and ran for the steps to leave, for real this time. Seconds later, I was the only person left standing on the balcony. I gathered Happy had gone to check on Pepper, wherever she was.

I stared at dad through the glass doors and he stared back. For the first time ever, I was truly afraid of my father. It was a feeling I never thought I would have. But as I stood there, I couldn't deny a ripple of fear travelled down my spine. Was he so drunk that he didn't recognise his own daughter? Would he attack me?

I watched as Rhodey stood up before ripping off the bench he had been smashed into and whacking it into dads head. He was sent flying across the room, landing head first into fireplace. Flames erupted and engulfed his head. I had a brief flash of concern, as would anyone after watching their father's head plunge into fire, before I remembered the suit could withstand temperatures hotter than the flames.

Dad wrenched his head out from the fireplace and turned to face his best friend. I watched the pair, standing in the ruins of what once was the entertaining room, and I wondered how on earth they would ever overcome this. Friendships had ended over less, although I'm pretty sure none had ever ended because they had beat each other up in titanium suits.

They both threw up their hands and the repulsors began to glow as they powered up.

Through the glass I could just barely make out Rhodey saying, "put your hand down."

"You think you've got what it takes to wear that suit?" dad replied.

"Put your hand down."

"Take the shot!"

When I realised neither of them was going to back down, I ran for the steps that lead up to the driveway. We had never tested the effects of shooting two repulsor blasts at each other but going on the damage one blast did, I didn't want to be around for two. The repulsor sound blared through the glass and from the corner of my vision I could see a white light glowing from the room.

I wasn't fast enough the reach the stairs so when the blast went off, the force of it sent me flying into the stone balcony railing. Pain exploded across my back and head. The edge of my vision went black and I was too weak to even try to lift my arms to shield my face from the flying glass. As the dust settled and the ringing in my ears dulled slightly, I looked around and thanked god that I had been on the edge of the blast. Had I been standing where I was only seconds before, the blast would have surely killed me or the flying debris would have.

After struggling for a few minutes and trying to ignore the fact that half of my vision was still blurred, I managed to get to my feet and walk with small, painful steps so I could check that neither of them had killed the other. Nothing in the room was left standing after the blast, including the men in the suits. After standing there for a few moments, surveying the wreckage that was once an entertaining room, both men showed signs of regaining consciousness. I figured both of them were done for the night and I sure as hell was. Painfully I made my way up to the driveway where Pepper rushed up to me.

"Morgan, where the hell-" she stopped mid sentence when she was close enough to see the cuts on my face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said briskly. I didn't mean to be snappy but I found it hard to be perky after watching my father get drunk and ruin half of my home, including my bedroom. "Can I please stay with you tonight?"

"Of course." She led me towards her Audi which was now the only car left on the driveway. I managed to get into the car without grimacing and showing just how much pain I was really in.

Pepper kept throwing me concerned glances as she drove but I pretended not to notice as I stared out the window. Half of my mind was praying that any second I would wake up and tonight was just been a bad dream while the other half was still trying to comprehend what had happened tonight. I was finding it hard to believe that it was just drunkenness that would cause dad to beat up his best friend while destroying our house in the process. Something more had to be going on.

I think I was trying to come up with excuses for what he had done because if he had just done it for shits and giggles I don't think I would be able to forgive him. But I couldn't think of anything that would excuse destroying a home.

Neither of us really spoke as we arrived at Pepper's house. I went immediately to the room I always stayed in when I crashed at Pepper's. I got the feeling that Pepper wanted to talk about it, to see if I was okay but right now I didn't want to talk to anyone. What I wanted to do was scream and yell but I didn't want to do that to Pepper. Dad was the one I should be yelling at but right now he was either still getting his ass kicked or he was puking his guts up.

My back and head were still aching like a bitch from the blast. I found some aspirin in the bathroom but I doubted it would take away much of the pain. As I painfully changed into a spare pair of Pepper's pyjamas, I noticed my reflection in the mirror above the sink. My face had numerous small cuts from the flying glass and I was covered in dust. One look at my back showed numerous bruises already forming thanks to the stone balcony I hit. I hated knowing I had these injuries thanks to Rhodey and dad. I found a pair of tweezers in one of the drawers and spent the next half an hour picking out the tiny shards of glass from the face and body. None of the shards of glass had been big enough to do any more damage than drawing some blood. One I was sure I'd gotten all of the glass I wiped the blood and dirt from my face.

I climbed into the bed and immediately had to roll onto my side. Even lying on my back was too painful at the moment. I waited for sleep to come but of course, with so much excitement tonight, I was wide awake. My phone, laying beside me on the pillow, suddenly rang out. With a pounding heart, I looked at the caller ID. It was Rhodey.


	11. Chapter 11

I wasn't ready to talk to him yet so I let the call ring out. His wasn't the call I was waiting for.

I wanted dad to call. But I didn't want him to call.

I wanted to hear why he acted like a fool. But I didn't want to hear his excuses.

He was probably too drunk to dial a phone so I didn't really expect to hear from him tonight.

I heard Pepper's phone ring and her voice muffled through the walls. I gathered Rhodey had called her after I didn't answer. I wondered what he was saying. I heard my name being said.

After a few minutes I heard Pepper say goodbye and soon the light coming through under my door vanished, indicating she had gone to bed. I doubted either of us were going to get enough sleep tonight. I was already planning in my head what I should do. Tomorrow I would go by the house, pack as much as my belongings as I could and stay in a hotel. And then I would start looking for a place of my own. I had still been hesitant about moving out after my talk with dad in the garage but his actions tonight had just made my decision easier. I was so sick of worrying about him, being the one who had to look out for him and make sure he didn't do something stupid. I am the teenager for god's sake, it should be the other way around. He should be worrying about what I'm doing.

I was done. I'd put up with this kind of crap before Afghanistan. The constant parties, the one night stands, the drinking. I'd thought he'd changed. I'd thought he'd realised that there was more to life than girls and booze. But he had just shown me tonight that he wasn't the changed man I thought he was. He was still the same drunken idiot. The only thing that has changed is me. I'm not going to put up with it anymore. If he wants to drink away his life and go back to being seen as just a billionaire playboy, fine, it's his life, but I'm not going to stand around and watch.

My head and back were still throbbing with pain but somehow I managed to fall asleep. I only got a few hours' sleep before I was awoken by the sounds of Pepper getting ready for the day. I looked at my phone to see it was 6:30 am. I was glad that the noise had pulled me from sleep. I wanted to get over to the house as early as I could as dad would probably still be sleeping off his hangover. I wasn't ready to see him yet.

My clothes, still on the floor from where I had dumped them the night before, were covered with dirt, blood and had holes in them from the glass. I picked them up, walked out of my room and into the bathroom and chucked them straight into the bin. Pepper had already laid out a pair of jeans (one of the few pairs she owned) and a blue tee on the racks on the wall. Although she was slightly taller than me, we were almost the same size so the clothes would fit fine. I jumped into the shower and the water was coloured brown as it ran down the drain. I hadn't realised how much dirt and dust the blast had covered me in. I felt guilty for sleeping in Pepper's spare bed in my state but vanished that guilt by promising to myself to buy her new sheets.

After blow drying my hair, I inspected myself in the mirror above the sink. I didn't look as bad as I expected. Dark bags were under my eyes thanks to my sleepless night. The cuts on my face didn't look as bad as they had last night since I'd wiped away the blood. They were small enough that they looked like they'd heal without scaring. I was thankful since it could have been a lot worse. I rolled up the ends of the jeans slightly, put on my converse sneakers and made my way downstairs. Pepper, all made up and ready to go, was standing in the kitchen finishing her cup of coffee. She smiled as I arrived and I thanked her for the clothes. After she had poured a cup of coffee for me, she slid into the seat opposite mine at the table.

"What are you going to do today?" she asked.

"I'm going to get some of my stuff and start looking for my own place."

I hadn't told Pepper yet about my idea of moving out so I was unsure of her reaction but surprisingly she nodded. She of all people knew how mature and responsible I was so I guess she thought, even at 17, I was capable of living on my own.

"What are you going to do today?" I asked.

Pepper sighed. "Go into work and pray that not too many videos of last night made it up onto the internet. Although I expect people have already talked to the media. I'll probably have to field calls all day." Poor Pepper. After getting a promotion, she wasn't dad's assistant anymore but she was still picking up the mess he left behind. I wondered if Natalie would be doing the same today.

"Rhodey called last night," Pepper said as she wrapped her hands around her mug. "He called to ask if you were okay. And to let me know he took the suit with him."

"Is he bringing it back?"

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "But if he doesn't, I'll have to start calling up our lawyers. I won't like it but he did take Stark property."

I wasn't happy about Rhodey taking our suit. I hoped he would return it but something told me that wasn't going to happen soon. I just hoped he hadn't done something like give it to the people we had been trying to keep it from. If he had, I doubted we would ever get it back.

Pepper got up and tipped the rest of her drink into the sink before suddenly spinning around. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm supposed to be flying out to New York this afternoon."

"The Expo?" I asked.

She nodded. "Hammer's doing some presentation tomorrow night."

I rolled my eyes at the mention of that idiot.

"I know," Pepper said in response to my reaction. "But I thought I would ask if you would like to come."

I thought that over. Would I rather stay here in California, looking for houses and wallowing in sadness or would I rather go to New York, escaping for a few days, even if I had to sit through Hammer's stupid presentation?

"That would be good," I said.

Pepper offered me a lift to the house but I declined, for two reasons. One, it was out of her way since Stark Industries was in the opposite direction and two, I knew she didn't want to see dad yet either.

Unfortunately I hadn't had the sense to grab my purse last night so Pepper had to lend me money for the taxi. She gave me a hug before leaving. After she had taken off in her Audi, I sat at the kitchen table for a few more minutes, sucking up the courage to leave. Better just get it over and done with. The earlier I went, the more chance I had of not seeing him.

I stared out the window during the cab ride, noting that during the night the pain had dulled in my back. I paid the driver as we pulled up to the gates and went through the process of proving my identity to enter. The gates swung open and I started up the driveway. With each step I took my heart pounded faster in my chest. The front door was wide open still and the damage could be seen, even at a distance. I stepped into the house, trying to make as little noise as possible. I didn't even know if he was here. Maybe he'd flown off somewhere after the fight? I considered asking J.A.R.V.I.S if he was here but decided against it since dad might hear it if he was here. I was still hoping to make it in and out without him knowing. But instead of going instantly upstairs, I took cautious steps through the rubble of glass and cement of the floor and surveyed the wall that had been smashed into. The damage looked even worse in the light. They had flown through two walls into the exercise room, which was half destroyed. Suddenly I couldn't stand to look at anymore. My anger was rising again.

My anger only increased when I walked into my room and was reminded that it too had been damaged. The hole in my floor was at least a meter wide and gave me a perfect view into what was once the entertaining room. That wasn't the only damage to the room. They must have landed on my bed because it was lying on the floor in pieces. Fantastic.

I edged my way around the hole and entered my wardrobe. After pulling out a large suitcase I began packing. Right now I was only packing what I would need for the next few days at a hotel. Once I bought a place I would have to come back for the rest of my stuff.

I was leaving my room, suitcase and handbag in hand, when I saw something on the floor that made me stop. I walked over to my bedside table and picked up the frame that had fallen to the floor beside it. Looking down at one of the few photos I had of myself and my mother, tears formed in my eyes. In the photo she was cradling me with a huge smile on her face. I had only been hours old. As I stared at the photo and the broken glass from the frame on the floor, my anger returned. For some reason seeing this picture broken made me angrier than seeing any of the damage done to the house. I pulled the picture out of the broken frame and slid it into my suitcase.

I grabbed my keys to my Audi and made my way downstairs. The lights in the garage weren't on so I thought that I was going to make it out without being seen. However, those hopes were dashed when I went to enter the garage. My fingers paused on the keypad. Sitting near the back of the garage, near the kitchenette, was dad. From where I stood, I could just see he was watching a video of his father on a projector. That was the last thing I expected to see him doing. I began to think of reasons why he would be watching a video of his father but I gave up almost instantly. These days I had no idea what the hell was going on in my father's head.

I was stuck between two choices. I could either go back upstairs and down the driveway to get a cab. He wouldn't know I had even been here. Or I could stick to my plan, walk over to my Audi and drive away. But there was no chance I could do that without drawing dad's attention to my presence.

Just bite the bullet. I punched in the code and opened the door. As expected, dad turned around to see who it was. I kept my eyes on my car as I strode across the garage. Within seconds he was up off his chair and making his way towards me.

"Morgan," he said in a desperate tone.

As quick as I could I chucked my suitcase in the trunk. Dad was standing by the hood of my car.

"Please, just let me explain," he said as I went to open my door.

I froze. He wanted to explain why he damaged our home? Without thinking, I slammed the door shut and stomped over to where he stood.

"You want to explain?" I said with surprising fury. "You want to explain how you destroyed half of our house? No! You don't get to explain! You don't get to say you're sorry and give some bullshit excuse! Because there is no excuse for what you did!"

I had never spoken this way to my father before, and the shock was evident on his face, but I wasn't going to back down. Because these things needed to be said.

"You destroyed half of this house. Not only that, you put the lives of everyone who was here in danger. You put my life in danger. Did you even see me on the balcony? Recognise me? I was standing on that balcony as you and Rhodey blasted each other. And if I hadn't of moved in time, I would be dead. You would have killed me."

The impact of that statement hit home. I watched the colour drain from his face as he realised just how close he had come to destroying more than his house. The injuries on my face served as my evidence.

He looked me dead in the eyes as he spoke. "I'm sorry Morgan."

I could hear the sincerity in his words but right now it just wasn't enough. "I know. But that just doesn't make everything alright."

"We can fix the house. We can-"

"It's not just the house dad!" I stepped back from him, trying to put some distance between us. "It's you! For months you have been acting strange, making stupid decisions and this was just this tip of the iceberg! It don't know what's going on because you won't tell me!"

Apparently he still wasn't ready to tell me because he remained silent as he averted his gaze from mine.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm my tone. "I'm done dad. Until you're ready to talk to me, I can't be here. I'm going to New York with Pepper and then I'm going to find a place of my own."

"Don't. Please don't. Just stay."

"I can't. You destroyed my bedroom, or don't you remember?" I opened my car door but paused as my mind flashed back to the broken picture on my floor. I knew this would be a low blow but maybe he needed to hear it. "What would mom say if she could see what you've done? This was her home too. I honestly hope, wherever she is, that she can't see what you've become."

Without another word, I hoped into my car and shut the door. Dad, with a look I had never seen upon his face, moved out of my way and watched as I drove away. I felt horrible but told myself over and over that it needed to be said. It had been obvious that dad had been regretting his drunken actions of last night but the fact remained that it was too little, too late. What was done was done and no amount of apologizes was going to change that.

Driving back to Pepper's place, I found myself biting my lip to keep myself from crying. From anger or sadness, I couldn't tell. Like all kids, I'd fought with my dad before, but nothing like this. I had no idea if our relationship would ever be the same again.


	12. Chapter 12

My stomach suddenly reminded me that I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. I made a quick detour to the nearest McDonalds and ordered myself 2 Big Macs and an apple pie, my comfort meal. And I definitely needed some comfort right about now.

I collapsed onto Pepper's couch the instant I got back to her place and ate my burgers. While I was happy to have some food in my stomach, my usual comfort meal did little to make me feel better. In fact, I felt even worse after I had finished eating. All I could think of was dad and how whenever I had a bad day at school or just a crappy day in general, we would always drive to McDonalds and order 6 Big Macs and finish them before we even got home.

It seemed like everything reminded me of dad. Since I was a kid, my world had revolved around him, he had been my hero, always there for me when I needed him. But things were changing. How could I look up to a man who gets so wasted he can't even recognise his own daughter? I had to start distancing myself from him, starting with getting my own home. I had wanted to move out but not under these circumstances. I opened up Pepper's laptop but I couldn't bring myself to actually start looking at houses.

Instead I found myself grabbing a pen and paper. I had never been much of a drawer but within minutes I had sketched a very rough design of an 'Iron Man' suit. My suit. It was almost the same as the Mark V but with some softer edges and different colours. In my mind I could already see it. Now I just wanted to make it a reality. Without my father's help and his workshop, it would take me weeks but I was determined to make it happen. Unlike my father, I would use my suit responsibly and only in dire emergencies which would, hopefully, keep the government off my back. Despite my father's assurances, it seems like we were always going to be in some danger and I would feel safer knowing I had some way to defend and protect myself.

I continued sketching, trying to find ways to make my suit look different from dad's, until I noticed the time. Pepper was supposed to be dropping by soon to pick me up. Luckily all I had to do to pack was grab a few clothes from the suitcase I had just packed at home and shove them into an overnight bag. I knew running to New York for a few days wasn't going to change anything, or make our problems disappear, but I still wanted to go. I think putting some distance between me and dad would be good. Hopefully if he was left alone for a few days he would think over what I said to him and realise something had to change. He had to change.  
____________________________________________________________________

"Your father came to see me."

"What?"

Pepper and I were sitting opposite each other in the jet, flying to New York. Until now we hadn't really spoken. The only sound had been that of pages turning, coming from the books Natalie and Happy were reading at the back of the jet.

"He came to apologize…sort of," Pepper said.

"He tried to do the same when I went to the house," I replied.

Pepper looked at me sympathetically. "How'd that go?"

"I told him it was too little, too late. The damage is done." Even just thinking about my earlier conversation with dad was making me feel horrible. I wanted to forgive him but his actions were not ones you could just forgive and forget. I didn't even know how to forgive him for this. I was hoping time would help…but how much time?

"What'd he say to you?" I asked.

Pepper shrugged. "He went on for a while but didn't actually make much sense. I didn't even hear half of what he said since I was on the phone to the lawyers trying to find out what we can do to get the Mark II back."

I frowned at that. "Rhodey hasn't returned the suit?"

Pepper shook her head. My heart sunk at that. We already had so many things to worry about and this just added to it. Although I appreciated the effort he went to to stop dad last night (even if he'd helped him destroy the house), Rhodey had no right to take the suit. It was Stark property and he had stolen it.

"What are we doing to get it back?"

"The lawyers are finding out where we stand legally with the suit and its patent. The suit is Stark property so I don't think we'll have any trouble if we have to press charges."

"I hope it doesn't come to that," I said in a hollow voice. Pepper nodded in agreement. The last thing I wanted to do was press charges against Rhodey but the fact was he had taken our property and hadn't returned it.

"He hasn't answered my calls and if he doesn't return it soon, it looks like that's what we're going to have to do."

"He shouldn't have had to put on the suit in the first place. What was dad thinking?"

Pepper shrugged. "I have no idea."

"He's been acting weird for months. I was hoping he might have talk to you? Told you what's going on?"

Pepper sighed as she shook her head. "He hasn't told me anything but I've seen it too. Something's going on with him."

I nodded in agreement. I was disappointed Pepper didn't have any more information than I did about what was going on with dad, but at the same time I was glad. If dad had told Pepper something and not me, I would have been upset that he confided in her and not me. But it seems like he had trusted no one with his problems, keeping them to himself.

What secret could be so bad that he wouldn't trust anyone with it? We had never kept any secrets from each other before. Dad had trusted me enough to share every secret about the suit and its creation when he'd been rescued from Afghanistan. He'd told me all about the Ten Rings and Stark's underground dealings with them. Now he had a secret that he wouldn't tell me. Why?

I was trying to come up with ideas but none would come. Maybe, subconsciously, I didn't want to know what it was. Because if it was so bad that he wouldn't tell me, it would have to be a life changing secret. Something that would alter our lives forever. My life had already changed so much in the past year, I didn't know how much more could happen before I couldn't take it anymore.

Neither of us talked much after that. After we landed we were quickly whisked from the airport to our hotel in Manhattan. Pepper offered to go out for dinner but I had a headache starting to pound in my head and I wasn't going to be very good company for the night. Instead I crawled into my bed while Happy, Natalie and Pepper (who had apparently warmed up to Natalie) went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

It was hard to believe 24 hours ago I had been in my own home, completely oblivious to the destruction my father was about to do. It still seemed like a dream, like it wasn't reality.

As I laid in the huge bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to come, I began wondering what dad was doing. Was he still sitting in the garage watching old family videos? Had he began the arduous task of cleaning up our broken home? Was he getting wasted again?

I rolled over and told myself I didn't care.  
________________________________________________________

I love that moment in the morning, just as you first wake up. Your eyes briefly flutter open as you come back to consciousness. And in those few seconds, just for a moment, everything is perfect. Nothing is wrong in the world, you don't have to worry about anything. Then the moment passes and everything wrong in your life comes flooding back into your mind.

I enjoyed those few seconds of peacefulness before I woke up. Then I remembered everything that had happened in the past few days. Dad, the house, our conversation. The weight settled back on my shoulders and that awful feeling, the one that you get when you fight with your parents, filled my stomach. I hated it.

He hadn't called. I don't know if I was glad or upset at that. I guess I was hoping he would call and say he had realised his mistakes. But even if he did call right now and say that, I probably wouldn't believe him. I had no idea where we went from here. Would our relationship ever be the same?

I crawled out of bed and stared down the New York streets below. I wanted to go back; before the party, before the suits, before Afghanistan. He might have been a drunken playboy but he'd never been stupid enough to destroy a house. And he had always been there for me. Now…I wasn't sure if he was.

All I wanted to do today was crawl back into bed and stay there until Hammer's stupid presentation tonight but I had to put up some display of normality for Pepper. I didn't want her to see just how much dad's behaviour had affected me.

So I put on a pair of jeans, a simple white tee and my favourite black Converse. I walked over to Pepper's hotel room across the hall, had breakfast, smiled and chatted. I could see some strain on Pepper's face and I knew I wasn't the only one feeling like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders.

"I've got a few meetings today," Pepper said over her second cup of coffee. "Did you want me to organise the car service to pick you up tonight to meet me at the Expo?"

I shook my head. "I'll meet you there at 7."

Pepper didn't ask what I would be doing today and I was glad. Maybe she already knew what I was going to do?  
During my first trip to New York when I was 5, I had begged dad to go and see the polar bears. Since then it had become a sort of ritual. Every time dad and I had come to New York, we'd buy an ice cream, walk through Central Park and spend the day looking at all the animals in the zoo. The last time we did it had only been a few weeks ago when we'd been in town to open the Stark Expo.

I should probably do something else, something that wouldn't remind me so much of dad but I didn't want to. It was either this or lying around in the hotel bed until 7pm.

I left the hotel and walked along the busy New York streets, heading for Central Park. I noticed a few heads turning in my direction, which made me wonder if footage from the party was online. No doubt hundreds of thousands of people had already viewed the video of my drunken father behaving like a lunatic. I slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses which lessened the amount of people recognising me. I really didn't want someone tweeting about where I was and having cameras shoved in my face.

I walked through the park for a few hours before making my way towards the zoo. As expected, I couldn't stop thinking about dad. There was nothing more I wanted to do that grab my phone and call him. I hated fighting with him, but this wasn't like our fights in the past which could be easily fixed with an apology and hug. Those things would only temporarily fix the problem. Until he told me what the hell was going on, these fights were going to keep happening.

I walked through the zoo for a few hours, trying to enjoy the cute animals and ignore the parents with their small children. Every time I saw a little girl clutching her father's hand I was reminded of my own childhood. I remember how when I was too small to see over the rails, dad would pick me up and carry me on his shoulders; how he would carry me when I got too tired to walk and I would fall asleep in his arms.

Okay, I had to get out of here. Why did I even come here? I should've just laid in the enormous hotel bed all day and ordered room service. I practically ran from the zoo, not stopping until I was back out on the streets. Maybe I should call him? Maybe he would finally explain what was going on? That's it, as soon as I was back at the hotel, I would call him. And then I had to go to Hammer's stupid presentation. I made a mental note to pack a book in my bag.

As I was crossing the street, my phone started buzzing in my bag. My heart leapt at the thought of it being dad. I dug around in my bag, cursing myself for having so much junk in it. Just as my fingers curled around my phone, I felt something tug at my back. For a second I thought someone was trying to snatch my bag until I felt hands wrapping around my waist.

I opened my mouth to scream but a second pair of hands snapped my jaw shut. The hands pulled, tugging me back.

One second I had been standing on a New York street, the next I was being shoved into a van. My two abductors ripped my bag off my shoulder and twisted my arms behind my back.

Being the daughter of a billionaire, I'd been given training on what to do during an abduction attempt. And so I fought against them with everything I had. I'd be damned if I would go down without a fight.

I lifted my foot and shot it backwards, hitting the kneecap of one of the men. He fell instantly to the ground. The second one, distracted by his fallen partner, loosened his hold on my arms enough for me to yank them from his grip. As I spun around, readying to defend myself, the van took off into traffic, causing me to stumble backwards. As I fell, the second attacker fell on top of me, knocking the wind out of me. I gasped for breath as I did the first thing that came to mind: I lifted my knee, sending it straight into his groin.

He rolled off of me as he cupped himself. I shot to my feet and went to grab the door handle. A hand wrapped around my hair, pulling me away. The first guy threw me to the floor. I let out an involuntary yell as my head hit the hard metal. I wasn't giving up but as I went to push myself off the floor, a fist descended across my face. My teeth rattled in my head as I was punched again. My lip split after the third one and it only took one more before I slipped back onto the floor and fell unconscious.


	13. Chapter 13

I woke with a pounding headache. For one second I had to ask myself why I was tied to a chair before I remembered. Someone had kidnapped me.

Oh god.

I instantly started panicking. Who had done this? Why? How long had I been out? How long would it be before someone noticed I was gone?

It took a few minutes of hyperventilating, which was hard with a piece of tape over my mouth, and a few tears before I reminded myself I needed to stay calm. If I was going to get out of this, I would need to be calm, rational and take in every detail to try and work out who had done this.

First of all I tired looking around at the room I was in but it was difficult to see anything as the room was completely dark, save for a small sliver of light coming through underneath the door. Next I tried tugging on my bonds. I was sitting in a wooden chair with my arms tied to the armrests. I pulled at my restrains with everything I had but all I accomplished was making my arms bleed. I tried freeing my legs but it was a wasted effort.

My face was aching like a bitch thanks to the punches the attacker had thrown. My lip was split and the blood that had flowed out of my nose was now dried and crusted on my face. I wondered how long I had been here in this room. I had no sense of time in this dark room. Was it night? If I didn't turn up at the Expo, would Pepper realise something was wrong? Had she been the one calling me when they had grabbed me? Or had it been dad?

I suddenly had a horrible thought. What if I never saw dad again? The kidnappers hadn't bothered to cover their faces and I'd watched enough TV shows to know they only did that if they didn't plan on letting you go. They were going to kill me and I would never tell my dad how sorry I was. The last conversation I had with dad I had yelled at him. He would always remember that as our last conversation.

A tear slipped down my face at the thought of never seeing him again. He had told me after mom died he had been a wreck and the only thing holding him together had been me. How would he cope when I was gone?

It was too painful to think about him anymore so I turned my mind back to my kidnappers. I had seen their faces but neither of them had looked familiar. Both had been average looking men with crew cuts. Nothing distinctive or memorable about them. I doubted they were the masterminds behind this plan so someone else was pulling their strings.

The sound of a door being opened broke the silence and I could see someone's shadow through the small gap under the door as they walked by.

"Hey buddy." I froze as I heard that voice through the door. It was Hammer's voice.

Had Hammer kidnapped me? Why? The man was a giant douchebag but I didn't know he'd do something as bad as kidnapping.

"Ivan, we had a deal," he said.

Ivan? Ivan Vanko? No, he couldn't be here. He was dead. It had been all over the news. He died in an explosion. How could he have survived? Even if he had, what on Earth was he doing with Hammer?

I got my answer as Hammer spoke again. "I save your life and you give me suits."

It felt like I had been punched again. Hammer had faked Ivan's death so he could make suits for him? I had known the man had been desperate to be better than dad but this was unbelievable. He would actually go this far to get a suit like dad's? Is that why he had kidnapped me? To get dad to hand over his designs or his actual suits? No, he had Ivan who was obviously smart and skilled enough to build a suit. So why am I here?

"That was our deal. And you did not deliver." I could see Hammer's shadow under the door as he paced in front of it. "I don't know if you're a genius or a fraud. I don't know what you are! Something really, really great fell into my lap. And if it hadn't, I'd be at your mercy tonight. Now I have a piece of Stark Tech that I pimped out myself."

Oh god. Rhodey you son of a bitch. He had gone and given it our suit Hammer. After everything they had been through, it had only taken him a day to turn around and betray dad. Sure, I had been angry after dad's drunken meltdown but I wouldn't have done something so stupid. Hearing Hammer say he had dad's suit made me want to punch him but it also strengthened my question of why am I here? He had a suit, he had Ivan, why did he need me?

"Now your overpriced paperweight are gonna look like a backdrop to my demonstration. You dig what I'm getting at here?"

Someone then said something in Russian, and even in a different language, I could recognise the voice. His cackling laugh was still in my head. Any hope I had that it was a different Ivan out there vanished.

It was Ivan Vanko. The man who hated my father so much he had tried to kill him. I suddenly realised why I was here. He had said he was going to wipe out the last 2 Starks and he was going to deliver on his promise. Hammer probably had no idea that I was in this room. It was all Ivan.

My fear increased at the knowledge that he was out there, waiting to kill me. I tried to scream, to alert Hammer that I was behind the door, but all that came out were muffled sounds thanks to the tape across my mouth.

"I don't know if you know this," Hammer was saying. "But I don't speak Russian! I'm going to leave now. I'm gonna go to the Expo. Your see these guys? They're your babysitters. When I get back, we're gonna renegotiate the terms of our agreement. And you're going to make good on our arrangement. Because if you don't, you're going to be exactly where you were when I found you; a dead man. You got that?"

Hammer obviously left as I heard the sound of a door being open and his annoying voice could no longer be heard. A few minutes of silence followed before footsteps echoed through the room. My heart started pounding as a shadow fell over the door a second before it opened. I blinked at the sudden light flooding into the room. I looked up to see one of the men who had been in the van. He grabbed both of the armrests and pulled me out of the room.

My worst nightmare came to life as I looked into the face of Ivan Vanko. He was sitting on a camp bed, chewing on a toothpick and looking like he didn't have a care in the world. The man dragged my chair until I was in the middle of the room, facing Ivan. He reached across and yanked the tape off my mouth. I grimaced in pain until I controlled my features. I didn't want to show any fear or pain in front of this man. I wouldn't give him what he wanted.

Ivan motioned to the door with his head and the men instantly left.

I could almost laugh if I wasn't tied to a chair. Hammer thinks these men work for him when really Ivan's got them under his thumb. Hammer couldn't even control his own men. How on Earth does he run a company?

"You're…you're supposed to be dead," I said, trying to control my tone. "You were dead."

"Obviously not, little girl," Ivan said. "I live, thanks to Hammer."

My heart was pounding as I stared into his eyes. They were cold, emotionless. The face of a killer. I wanted to deny that I was afraid but just being in the same room as the man scared me half to death. I didn't know what it was about him; the numerous tattoo's covering his body, his ragged hair and unnerving eyes or the aura that surrounded him. Everything about this man screamed death and danger.

"So, Hammer got you out of prison and in return you build suits for him?" I hated talking to him, looking into his face, but I was hoping the more I talk, the more distracted he would get. Hammer had said he was going to the Expo and the clock on the wall said it was just before 7. I had promised to meet Pepper there at 7 so I was stalling for time, hoping she would soon realise I wasn't coming and something was wrong.

"Hammer thinks I build suits for him," he said as he cracked his knuckles, obviously an attempt to frighten me even more. It worked.

"You're not?"

"I do not make suits. I do not care about money like Hammer."

"What do you care about?" I asked as I eyed the clock on the wall. 7o'clock. Pepper should be wondering by now where I was.

"I only cared about one thing," Ivan said as he stood up from his bed and started walking around the room. "My father. And thanks to your Grandfather, he died a poor, broken man."

I frowned. What did my grandfather have to do with Ivan and his father? "My grandfather? What did he do?"

"He stole from my family. My father worked with Howard Stark, developing the arc reactor. As soon as they finished it, Stark deported my father. While he got all the fame and money, my father got nothing."

That explained his grudge against the Stark family. I knew he hadn't tried to kill my father over nothing. He believed because of my grandfather's actions, my father and I deserved to die. But I didn't believe that what he said was all there was to it. I knew my grandfather had been a cunning business man but I refused to believe he would destroy a man's life simply to gain all the recognition and glory. Something more had to be going on. There were always 2 sides to a story and Ivan only had one side; his father's.

My pulse quickened as he walked behind me, out of my line of view. "So you would kill my father, and me, because of something my grandfather did? I'm innocent yet you condemn me to die?"

"You are not innocent," he spat. His Russian accent thickened as his anger increased. "The whole Stark family are butchers and thieves. Your father lives because of technology my father built. Your father gets the glory and money that my father deserved. And you, as his heir, are just the same. You live a life of riches and luxury that you do not deserve. But after tonight, that will change."

A shiver ran down my spine as he came back into my view with a smile upon his face. He would actually enjoy killing me. My heart increased its pounding as the full reality of my situation hit home. I was going to die. I was actually going to die here, strapped to a chair, by a crazed Russian man because of something my grandfather might have done. I wanted to scream and cry but I refused to die with tears on my face. I would die with my head held high.

Ivan pulled something out from beneath the sheets on his bed. My handbag. He must have been hiding it from Hammer, which cemented my thought that Hammer had no idea that Ivan had kidnapped me.

He pulled out my phone and a sense of dread filled me. He walked past me and began fiddling with something out of my eye line. After a few minutes he came up behind me, slapped some more tape across my mouth and spun my chair around so I could see what he was doing.

Set up against the wall was a work station. My eyes were immediately drawn to the computer monitor, displaying the words "Calling Dad". He had plugged my phone into the computer and was using that to place the call, probably so I would be able to hear my father.

"Hey Morgs. I'm so glad you called." Dad's voice echoed through the room and it cut through me like a knife. I suppose this was like some form of torture, being able to hear his voice but not being able to speak to him. "I wanted-"

"Hey Tony, how you doing?" Ivan smiled at me from where he sat, obviously enjoying the knowledge that dad would be frozen in fear at his voice and the fact that it was coming from my cell phone. I hated to think of what he was feeling right now.

"If you hurt her-" Those few words were laced with so much anger and fear that it made my heart break.

"I double cycle," Ivan said as he cut over dad.

"You what?"

"You told me double cycle's more power. Good advice." As soon as Ivan turned around on his chair to face the computer, I began trying to pull the tape off my mouth. With my arms tied, all I could do was try to lift a corner of the tape up using my shoulder. All I wanted to do was get one word out: 'Hammer'. I figured that I was in Hammer's warehouse and if I could get the tape off, I could let dad know where I was.

"You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy."

"You too."

I frowned at that? What did Ivan mean that dad sounded good for a dead guy?

"Now the true history of the Stark name will be written. What your father did to my family over 40 years, I will do to you in 40 minutes, starting with your daughter. I hope you're ready." He hung up before dad could say another word.

I cursed myself for not doing more. My efforts to remove the tape from my mouth were wasted. Dad wouldn't even know I was alive. For all he knew Ivan had killed me long ago and was simply using my phone to call him. I couldn't even image the pain he would be feeling right now. His only child was in the hands of crazed murderer hell bent on revenge and he had no idea what state I was in. Was his mind conjuring up image of me lying dead in a pool of my own blood? Did he think I was being tortured this very second? I hated thinking of him in so much pain.

Ivan began typing away on a keyboard and I began wondering how long I had left to live. He made a promise to rid the world of the last 2 Starks and I knew he would deliver on his promise. Would he kill me now or keep me alive for a bit longer, maybe to torture dad some more? I was trying to prepare myself for death but it was a hard thing to do. I couldn't give up hope, not yet. Dad would have traced the call so I have to assume that he's on his way here now. Unless Ivan had somehow managed to block the call. Even so, I knew dad would find me. I just had to buy him more time.

"Why didn't you sell the arc reactor?" I asked. Ivan's fingers paused above the keyboard and he slowly turned around to face me. "If you had the designs for arc reactor, and the capability to actually build it, why not sell it on the black market?"

"Because unlike Stark's, I do not want wealth and power. I want revenge. Your father needs to pay for his crimes before he dies." He turned back around to continue typing.

Something in the way he said 'before he dies' was odd. "What do you mean, before he dies?"

Once again he paused in his typing. "You do not know?" he asked.

"Know what?"

A sick smile spread over his face as he wheeled his chair close to mine. I wanted to recoil in disgust but I couldn't. "Your father is dying." He seemed to relish the words as he spoke them, glad to be the one to destroy my world.

I shook my head. "No. He's fine."

"The palladium core in his arc reactor is poisoning him. Painful way to die. He only has weeks to live, days maybe."

No, no, no. He had to be lying. He had to be. Dad couldn't be dying. He would have told me if he was. If the arc reactor core was poisoning him, we would have found a replacement. Ivan was only saying this to torture me some more.

"You're lying," I said but the words sounded unconvincing even to my own ears.

Dad had been sneaking around, spending even more time in the garage and on his computers, not letting me know what he was working on. For months I had been thinking he was hiding something. Was this it? Was he dying?

I tried to tell myself if he was dying he would have told me but I knew it wasn't true. He wouldn't have wanted to burden me with that knowledge. As much as I wanted to deny it, it was starting to make sense now. His secretive behaviour, the changes in his attitude, the slight weight loss and paleness. Memories came flooding back. The pain in his voice when I'd talked about what I would do with the company and suits if I lost him, his reckless idea to drive an F1 car, his reluctance to return to the US after Monaco, the tears he had shed over my scrapbook. Even his stupid behaviour at his party made some sense now. If you knew you were never going to have another birthday, you make your last one count.

Although I had promised myself that I wouldn't cry, this new knowledge made that hard. My dad was really dying. In as little as a few days, according to Ivan, he would be dead. Tears leaked from the eyes at the thought of losing him.

Ivan, still watching my reaction to his words, smiled at my pain before returning to the keyboard.

I couldn't imagine a world without dad in it. Even after all the shitty things he had done, I still loved him with all of my heart. But soon I would lose him. Forever. Just like mom. I was going to be alone in the world.

I felt what little will I had to live slipping away as I thought about dad's impending death. I didn't want to be left here alone. How could I ever move on from losing him? I don't think I could.

It wasn't fair. I'd just gotten him back from Afghanistan and now I was going to lose him again, permanently. He'd come back from that place beaten and bruised, but alive thanks to the arc reactor. But now the thing which had saved his life was now killing him. Knowing dad, he would have researched everything, tried anything to keep his heart beating but based on his recent behaviour, I guess his research and experiments came up with nothing. He'd given up hope and accepted the fact that nothing could save him from death now. Nothing was going to save my father. A small sob escaped me.

"Don't cry little girl," Ivan said as he stalked over to me. "You will die long before your father does."

"You're pathetic," I spat, letting my emotions get the better of me. "Blaming people for things that aren't their fault."

"It is your fault," he hissed back. "And your father's fault and his father's fault. It's all your faults that my father died poor. That I went to jail for stealing food to keep us alive while your father was living in luxury. Do you know what they do to you in prison?" He leant forward and wrapped his fist around my left pinkie finger. "This."

I only had a second to prepare myself before he tugged on my finger. The pain hit me instantly and I couldn't contain my scream. Ivan smiled, the enjoyment written all over his face. I gritted my teeth and tried to take in deep breaths to help with the agony that was my broken little finger.

"They break all your fingers as an initiation." He held up his hands to show all of his tattooed fingers were thick and bent slightly, indicating that they'd all been broken and never set correctly. "You think this hurts? Just wait until all your fingers are like this."

I was prepared for it this time but it didn't mean it hurt any less. But this time, as he broke my ring finger, I managed to keep myself from screaming by biting the inside of my lip. My mouth quickly filled up with blood.

"You deserve this," Ivan said as he reached for another.

As he leant down, I spat the blood into his face. He instantly recoiled and wiped some blood from his eye.

"You deserve that," I said. "And I don't deserve this."

He said something in Russian which I can only assume was profanity before his fist descended down across the side of my face. Pain exploded in my head and dark spots danced at the corner of my vision. My head was now another thing to add to the list of things that were throbbing like a bitch. I spat some more blood onto the floor while Ivan went over and retrieved something from the desk.

My blood ran cold when he turned around to show a large knife gripped tightly in his hand.


	14. Chapter 14

My blood ran cold when he turned around to show a large knife gripped tightly in his hand. Oh god. Was he going to cut off my fingers now? Or just kill me all together?

No, he wouldn't do that. Not now at least. He wanted to draw this out, make it last, enjoy it for longer. I just had to put up with it until dad got here.I had to be strong. I had survived Obadiah, I would survive this...I hope.

Ivan approached me, that sick smile back on his face. I closed my eyes and waited, expecting that any second that my fingers would be cut off. Instead he gripped my jaw and forced my mouth open. My eyes flew open and I tried to struggle but it was useless. Ivan had a tight grip on my tongue and a tight grip on the knife.

"Your lying tongue needs to be cut out."

Oh god no. He's going to cut out my tongue? The adrenaline pumping through my veins increased and my heart jumped into overtime. There was no way I was going to let this insane man cut out my tongue. I began thrashing in my seat, tugging at my bonds. It was having no effect but I'll be damned if I was going to sit there and do nothing as I let him cut out my tongue. I couldn't believe that this was about to happen. I would give anything for it to be yesterday, to just be back in California, to forgive my dad and tell him we'd work everything out.

All I could think as I watched the knife descending was that I would never be able to tell dad how sorry I was, how much I loved him. I felt the moment the knife first touched the side of my tongue. He dragged it slowly, obviously wanting to inflict maximum pain. Tears sprung in my eyes. He'd only gone a quarter of an inch across when a piercing beep sounded from the computers across the room.

Ivan growled as he removed the knife and stomped over to the desk. A whimper of relief escaped me. The cut he'd made was stinging and bleeding but I was just thankful to still have a tongue. I looked down to see my hands, still taped to the chair, were shaking. My heartbeat and pounding in my ears. I needed to get out of here before he came back and finished the job.

"Your father is quicker than expected," Ivan said as he typed something into the computer to cease the beeping.

Dad was here? Oh thank god. I had literally never been more relieved in my life. He certainly liked to leave this to the last minute. A couple of seconds later and I'd have been tongueless. My relief soon turned back into fear as I realized that the beeping had been warning Ivan that dad was coming, not that he was actually here. He still had enough time to plunge that knife into my chest before dad come blasting through the roof.

That's exactly what I thought he was going to do when he walked over to me, knife in hand. The knife flew down, cutting the duct tape binding my hands. I was momentarily stunned until he grabbed my hands and quickly tied them together. My feet were next. With his hands around my ankles he pulled me from the chair, knocking my head on the ground in the process, and proceeded to drag me from the room.

I wondered what the hell he was doing. Why didn't he just kill me? As he dragged me out into the warehouse, I decided to just flat out ask him. "What are you doing?" I asked after swallowing the blood in my mouth.

"Before I kill you and your father, I want the world to see him for the man that he is. He can't protect you and he can't protect them. After tonight they will see that. And after I destroy his name, I will destroy you both." His thick Russian accent echoed through the expansive warehouse.

"What-" I was momentarily confused, wondering just how he planned to ruin my father in just one night when it hit me. "The expo."

The sick smile of pleasure on his face was all the conformation I needed. The bastard was planning on doing something at the expo, something that would no doubt involve killing numerous innocent people. Oh God. Pepper, Happy and Natasha were there. I needed to warn them.

How could he do this? How could he kill people and justify it by saying it was revenge for something that happened years ago?

I had to stop him. I don't know if I could live with the guilt of knowing that people died at this madman's hands because of my family. I needed to find a way to stop him but all I could do right now was try not to cry from all the pain that was surging through me. I had to trust that dad would get here soon and stop him. He had to.

Abruptly Ivan dropped my legs and reached down to pull on a hidden handle in one of the large floor tiles. It swung up to reveal a compartment just big enough to hide a body in. How convenient.

He bent down and I instinctively tried to pull away. That was hard, considering he'd grabbed me by the front of my shirt and was lifting me towards him. One hand was removed from my shirt before it was smashed across my face. His intention had obviously been to knock me out. While it did worsen my headache and increase the nauseated feeling rolling around in my stomach, it didn't succeed in rendering me unconscious. So I played dead.

I made sure to control my features and relax my body, which was hard to do when he unceremoniously shoved me into the compartment. My instinct was to break my fall but I forced myself to remain motionless and take the brunt of the impact of my side. He slammed the lid shut and a moment later I heard his heavy footsteps retreat.

I waited for a few minutes, straining to hear any sounds in the warehouse that would tell me if Ivan was still here. How long would it take him to get to the expo? And what exactly did he plan to do when he got there? He was going to kill people no doubt, but how? I couldn't imagine him running around with a knife stabbing people. He had to have a plan, something that I wasn't seeing. Had he rebuilt the electric whips he had used in Monaco? Maybe.  
Whatever he was planning to do tonight, why tonight? The expo had been open for weeks. He could have done something days ago. But instead he chose tonight. Nothing special was occurring at the expo. The only presentation tonight was Hammers'. Oh crap. Ivan had been building suits for Hammer, which Hammer was no doubt presenting tonight. I'd bet everything I had that Ivan was going to use those suits in his plan. He had built the suits, so it wouldn't be too hard for him to wire it so he had control over them.

Dad better get here soon. He was the only person who would be able to stop Ivan.

I listen, waiting to hear any sounds in the warehouse above me but there was only silence. I maneuvered myself onto my back and began bashing my bound feet against the lid. I was beginning to make some progress and see some light coming in through the gaps when I heard heavy footsteps above. I held my breath, hoping Ivan hadn't come back and decided to finish what he'd started. The footsteps neared and I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the gun or knife that would kill me. The lid was thrown open.

"Morgan!" That one word was filled with fear, happiness, relief and hesitance.

I opened my eyes and through the blinding light could see my father, clad in his Iron Man suit, standing above me.

"Dad!" He threw his helmet open and I knew the relief on his face would be mirrored on my own. I wanted to cry from happiness but I knew dad would think I was crying for another reason so I contained myself. "I have never been so happy to see your face." He reached down and slid one arm around my shoulders and the other under my knees. Gently lifting me from the compartment, he lowered me to the floor and ripped the tape from around my hands and feet.

"Are you okay?" He helped me to my feet and immediately began assessing me for injuries. "I'm going to kill him," he growled as he looked at my face.

"I'm fine," I said as I brushed away his hands. Unfortunately this act only increased the pain in the fingers, causing me to wince. "Ok, aside from the broken fingers, I'm fine."

"What?" He looked at my fingers and saw how swollen and unnatural they looked. "Okay, now I'm really going to kill him."

"Yes, okay, well then go kill him. He's already gone. You have to go stop him. He's going to the expo."

"I know. He flew off as I got here."

"Flew? Does everyone have a suit now?! You have a suit, Ivan has a suit, Hammer has a suit!"

Dad frowned. "Hammer has a suit?"

"Hammer has OUR suit," I corrected him. "Rhodey gave it to him."

"Oh man, and I thought we were buds."

I resisted the urge to point out that it was his fault Rhodey had taken the suit in the first place. "You can figure it out and be BFF's later. Right now you need to go to the expo and stop Ivan. He said he wants to destroy you. That's why he left me alive. He wanted us to watch him destroy your name before he kills us both. He's going to use the suits he designed for Hammer."

"First you need to go to the hospital."

"What? No. You need to go!" I pushed against his metal chest, hiding the pain in my broken fingers which would only increase his determination to take me to hospital. "Dad, Pepper's at the expo." I saw the flash of concern in his eyes but also his determination. "You're wasting time."

"And we're going to keep wasting time until you go to hospital."

"Fine!" I sighed in exasperation.

Dad smiled in victory before he lifted his hand and shot out a portion of the roof across the room. I was annoyed until I realised where we were. "Hammer's going to love that." I resisted the urge to ask dad to do a bit more damage to the warehouse before we left. The sooner we got out of here, the sooner dad could go to the expo, find Pepper and stop whatever the hell was going on. I let him pick me up bridal style and reached up with my good hand to flip his face plate shut (with more force than was probably necessary).

Although I was being held in cold, hard metal arms, it surprisingly wasn't painful and didn't aggravate my injuries. Dad cradled me gently as he fired the repulsors in his boots. We ducked through the newly created hole in the roof and flew towards the closest hospital, which ,thankfully, was only a few blocks away. The cold night air whipped around us, stinging the cuts on my face. Despite being in pain, I was still able to enjoy the amazing view. This was the first time dad had taken me on a flight (despite my persistent begging) and it was only strengthening my understanding of why dad climbed into the suit almost every day. The feeling I was currently experiencing was beyond words. Flying above the city, with the wind whipping my hair about as I gazed down at the tiny people on the street, was exhilarating. Yet I couldn't completely enjoy it because of everything else that was currently happening. Thousands of people were in danger at the expo and the only person who could stop it was flying me to a hospital because I had a couple of broken fingers. Bit of an overreaction. It's not like I'm dying.

Oh my god. The nagging feeling in the back of my head suddenly leapt forward as I remembered my earlier conversation with Ivan.

"So in between breaking my fingers, Ivan and I had an interesting conversation." I noticed his head move a fraction of an inch down towards me, indicating he'd heard me and was no doubt interested in what I had to say. "He mentioned that you were dying from palladium poisoning. Wanna talk about that?"

There was a pause, in which I was wondering just what the hell was going on in my father's head, before he finally spoke. "Sorry, can't hear you over the wind!" he shouted through his mask. I gave him a look that clearly said 'bullshit'.

Since aversion was another way dad said 'yes', that pretty much confirmed it. My stomach sunk as I thought about him dying.

As much as I wanted to scream and shout and demand that he talked to me about what was going on with him, it needed to wait. I didn't know how much time he had but it was looking like the people at the expo had less time. They had to come first. That didn't stop every fiber in my body worrying about him. I had so many questions running through my mind. First of all, why the hell didn't he tell me what was happening to him months ago? His behavioral changes, the drinking, the girls and the recklessness, had all started months ago. He had plenty of chances to tell me, and Pepper, that he was slowly being poisoned. But he didn't. And I get that he wanted to protect me but he was doing a lousy job at it. How was letting me walk into the garage to see his dead body protecting me?

He should have told me sooner. I could have helped him research palladium and possible substitutes. No doubt that's what he was doing when he spent 14 hours on his computers every day. I may not be as smart as him, but two heads were always better than one. I could have helped. I would have helped. And besides, telling me sooner would have given me more time to process that my father was dying, instead of it being dropped on me like a bomb days before he might die.

What was I going to do without him? I couldn't image my life without him in it. He was the only person in my life who had always been there for me. He raised me all by himself, refusing to hire a nanny. Whenever I had come home in tears because I had been teased at school, he'd always found a way to make me smile. When I was sick he'd try to cook me chicken soup, fail miserably, order some instead and we'd watch reruns of Friends episodes all day (his guilty pleasure). He taught me everything I know about cars and always supported my decisions and dreams. I don't know what to do without him.

It's hard to imagine that this time next week he might not be here. I already went through the heartbreak and grief of losing him once, when he was lost for months in Afghanistan. I don't know if I could go through that again.

We started descending and I realized that we'd already reached the hospital. Dad gently set me on my feet outside the emergency doors. A few people making their way inside stopped to gawk at Iron Man and wonder what he was doing there.

"Now go inside and get checked out," Dad said as he ignored the staring people. He turned and readied himself to take off again but I grabbed his hand and pulled him back to face me.

I knew I was wasting time but I couldn't let him go without asking and getting an answer. "Just tell me...are you dying?"

I could hear a sigh from inside the suit before he placed his hands on my shoulders and leant forward. "I'm not dying...anymore."

"Wait, what?" I frowned as I looked into the glowing eyes of the suit. "So you were dying but now you're not?"

"Yes. It's a long story. I have to go. Promise me you'll go inside."

"Ok, I'm going inside." Dad removed his hands from my shoulders and took a few steps back. "Be careful!" I yelled out as he took off. As I watched his retreating figure, a small glimmer of hope flared inside of me. He wasn't dying. Somehow he had found a cure for his palladium poisoning. He was going to live.

Or, he had just been telling me what I wanted to hear and he really was still dying. I chose to believe the former. He was going to be fine, he had to be.


	15. Chapter 15

I looked over at the emergency doors then up at the sky to make sure dad was out of sight before turning around and running down the street. Like hell I was going to sit in a hospital while dad was out there trying to stop Ivan and Pepper was in danger. I was going to do something. I wouldn't be able to do much to stop Ivan but I could help the people at the expo, warn them, and help them get out. Plus, I needed to find Pepper.

My eyes scanned the street, looking for an older car that wouldn't have an alarm. I spotted a red BMW E30 from the 90's halfway down the street. With no time to waste, I ran towards it, picked up a heavy rock from a nearby garden bed and promptly hurled it through the back passenger window. As suspected, no alarm sounded. I reached through the broken window and unlocked the front door. As I slid into the driver's seat, I caught a quick glance of my reflection in the rear-view mirror. I understand why dad had been so angry when he'd seen me. I looked horrible.

The numerous small cuts over my face from the party were starting to heal but a large bruise was blossoming on my left cheek along with a black eye. I had blood on my face from my split lip and damaged nose, and a small gash near my temple had been reopened from Ivan's last punch and was still trickling a tiny river of blood down the side of my face. No wonder my head was throbbing like a bitch. Not to mention my two broken fingers and partially cut tongue.

I pushed the thought of my injuries aside and focused on hotwiring the car (another skill dad had taught me). It wasn't long until the silence inside the car was broken by the engine starting. I stomped on the gas and shot off down the street. I had never been one to stick to the speed limits (try doing 30mph in a Porsche- it's impossible), and I wasn't about to start tonight. While this rust bucket wasn't as fast a Porsche, it was getting the job done. I sped through the streets, ignoring the red lights and earning plenty of honks from annoyed motorists. I almost jumped in surprise when a shrill ringtone echoed through the car. A phone, which looked as old as the car, was sitting in the centre console. I couldn't believe my luck.

I ignored the incoming call and quickly dialled Pepper's number. I prayed to god she wouldn't ignore the unknown number and I prayed even more that something wasn't stopping her from answering. It rang out so I immediately called again.

"What?" I could instantly tell from her tone that something was going on.

"Pepper, it's me," I said as I weaved through 2 particularly slow cars.

"Morgan! Where are you? Are you here at the Expo?"

"No, I-"

"Good! Don't come here, stay wherever you are!" I had never heard Pepper sound so forceful before.

"Why? What's happening?"

"Hammer's drones have gone crazy. They're attacking everyone."

Pepper confirmed my earlier predication. Ivan was using the suits he'd built for Hammer to hurt people at the expo. Dad would come to the rescue, giving Ivan the perfect opportunity to kill him.

"Is dad there yet? He just left me so he should be there soon." I hated to think what was going to happen if he didn't get there in time. How many people could die...because of us.

"Tony was just with you?"

"Yeah, he just rescued me." I regretted the words that had just come from my mouth when Pepper reacted the way I knew she would.

"What?! Rescued you? What happened?!" She practically screeched.

I considered lying to her but figured, what the heck? Nothing else could go wrong tonight. "Ivan kidnapped and tortured me. Dad rescued me and now he's on his way to stop Ivan."

"Oh my god? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Is dad there yet?" I pushed down on the gas and hoped this car would last long enough to make it to the expo.

"I don't know. I'm inside, trying to figure out how to stop the drones."

"Okay, stay inside. Don't go outside, don't do anything. Stay where you are. Okay?"

"Okay."

My attention was suddenly caught by a flash in the sky up head. "I've got to go." I hung up the phone and scanned the sky. I was only a few blocks away from the expo. That's when I noticed that I had no one to fight for the road, no one to weave around. There was no traffic heading towards the expo, only away.

Shit.

A red blur in the sky suddenly shot across my vision, followed by a lot of grey blurs. I felt better knowing that dad was there, trying to stop Ivan, but I also hated seeing my father being attacked by a bunch of drones. At least they wouldn't be attacking the public anymore. Just dad.

I swerved around a corner and immediately slammed on the brakes as a swarm of people ran across the street. I was close enough to run on foot so I grabbed the phone before jumping out of the car. In the back of my mind I made a mental note to send some cash to whoever's car I had stolen and abandoned. The closer I got to the expo, the more chaotic it was. There were people running everywhere, screaming in fear. It got harder and harder to weave between them. I noticed many of them had already sustained injuries, like cuts on the face and broken limbs. I prayed they were the worst of the injuries.

As I reached the expo, I took a moment to take in everything that was happening. There were hundreds of people streaming out of the buildings with police officers trying to direct them towards the exits. A few buildings were on fire while some others had been destroyed and were now just a pile of rubble. I spotted what appeared to be a handful of large drones standing among the retreating crowd. But instead of harming the fleeing people, they stood motionless with their weapons were aimed at the sky. I was confused for a moment until dad flew overhead. As soon as he came into their range, the drones on the ground fired. I watched as dad swerved to avoid their shots. Following dad's trail was what appeared to be our suit, although much more heavily armed, and a number of drones, all firing at him.

Although I was greatly concerned, I couldn't worry about dad now. He could take care of them. I had to help the people who couldn't take care of themselves. The first thing I did was run over to a building that was burning. It was probably a stupid thing to do and dad could yell at me later for it, but I ran straight into the building. It had once been an exhibition, displaying the history of the American Army but now everything was either ash or about to be. Flames were licking the walls and smoke was quickly filling the room. It looked like everyone had already evacuated so I was about to leave when I heard the sound of a child crying.

"Hello?" I called out, hoping I could be heard over the flames and screaming still coming from outside.

"Help! We're back here!"

I ran further into the building, pulling up the neck of my shirt to cover my mouth. The smoke and the heat from the flames was almost enough to send me running outside but I ignored my instinct and kept running. Up ahead the fire had already severely damaged the building. Some of the beams from the roof had fallen and were blocking my way. I could just make out the figure of a man and a child beyond the flames.

I could go back outside and try to get help but by then it could be too late. I took a few steps back, took in a deep breath (which was mostly smoke) and ran. I lept over the beam, thankfully missing the flames. Huddled near the corner was a family. A man was leaning over a woman who lay unconscious. Beside her was an unconscious kid, no more than 3, who had a cut bleeding on his forehead. Standing next to them, crying loudly, was a small girl around 5 years old.

"Thank God!" The man cried as he saw me. "I need your help. I can't carry them all out."

"I'll get your kids out. You carry your wife."

While the man gathered his wife in his arms, I turned to little girl, who still had tears streaming down her face. "Hey, it's okay." I reached down and wiped a tear from her cheek. I was trying to remain calm but the truth was we were running out of time. "I need you to be a brave girl, okay?" She sniffed and nodded. "I need you to climb onto my back and wrap your arms around my neck."

Although she was hesitant to climb onto the back of a stranger, her father assured her it was okay and she quickly hopped onto my back, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. I gently pick up her unconscious brother and held him close to me.

"Quickly!" I cried out as the man hesitated. Clutching his wife, he leapt over the beam but quickly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Time was running out. My lungs were starting to burn and I couldn't stop coughing.

"I need you to hold on real tight!" I said over my shoulder to the little girl. I felt her arms tighten around me. I took a running jump, barely missing the flames below. Without a second to waste, I ran towards the exit.

The cool night air entering my lungs was a relief but caused a coughing fit. I was just glad to have made it out of there without any burns.

"Sara! Michael!" Their father came running over with tears in his eyes. "Thank you so much! Thank you!"

"It's okay. They're fine. We need to get them to hospital." I could hear police and ambulance sirens nearby. They had to be here soon if they weren't already. The man picked up his wife from the bench he'd placed her on and together we walked through the expo to the nearest street. There were far fewer people around, most of them having already run away or found some shelter from the fight. There were a lot of damaged drones lying on the pavement, which I took as a good sign.

As I had expected, police and ambulances were pulling up at the expo entrance. We ran to the nearest one. The paramedics quickly loaded the mother and son onto gurneys. I handed the little girl, Sara, over to her father who couldn't stop thanking me. When he turned around to talk to the paramedics, I turned and ran back into the expo. I wanted to stick around and make sure they were okay but I needed to go back and make sure there weren't other people in need of help. Plus, I needed to find out what was going on with dad.

I got my answer as I jogged to the centre of the expo, still having the occasional coughing fit. As I stopped in front of the shallow pools to catch my breath, the sound of gunfire echoed through the night. I looked up to see dad flying towards me. He flew low to the ground, barely skimming over the water as he flashed by me as a red blur. He was quickly followed by our suit and a handful of drones, still firing shots towards him. While other screamed and ran away from the gunfire, I stood transfixed as I watched dad fly towards the Unisphere. He flew into the large metal sphere before shooting out of the top. As the drones went to follow they couldn't make the sharp turn, resulting in half of them crashing into the sphere and blowing up.

It was a great move but he still had a few drones on his tail, including our suit. I wondered who was inside it but I had a sinking feeling I already knew. As I watched them fly off and disappear, the sound of gunshots was replaced by the sounds of screams. I whirled around, looking for the source. It wasn't hard to find, considering the expo was now almost completely deserted.

A destroyed drone had collapsed onto a bystander. She was screaming in pain as she tried to pull her leg out from underneath the drone, with no luck. The few stragglers left in the expo completely ignored her as they ran past. My feet were moving before I knew it. It was a futile effort but I tried lifting the fallen drone on my own. It wouldn't budge.

"Hey, I need help!" I yelled, my voice barely audible over the sounds of the pinned woman's screams. The people running past us ignored me, barely sparing us a glance. There was no way I could lift this thing by myself but no one seemed to care enough to stop and help. "HEY!" I screamed as I grabbed the jacket sleeve of a man as he ran past. "HELP ME!" For a moment I thought he would keep on running but after getting over the shock of having a teenage girl scream in his face he bent down and together we managed to lift the drone. The woman shuffled backwards on the pavement. She had tears streaming down her face as she looked down at her crushed and bloodied ankle.

"Take her over there." I pointed in the direction where the ambulances were arriving. The man picked up the woman bridal style and swiftly disappeared in that direction.

As I looked around I saw the expo was almost well and truly deserted. I was the only person left in the main area that I could see. I wondered how many drones were left flying around after dad as there were so many littering the ground. There couldn't be too many left for dad to take out. Even if he got rid of all of the drones, there was still Ivan to worry about. Where was he? What was he planning to do? Something more had to be happening.

I was about to pull out my phone and call dad to find out what the heck was happening when a cry sounded out. Not just any cry- a kids. I whirled around and traced the sound back to the kid. He was no older than 4 and was sitting against the wall of the reflecting pools, tears streaming down his face.

"Hey there," I said in a gentle voice as I approached him. "It's okay." He seemed a bit weary as I bent down in front of him. "Did you get lost from your mom?" He sniffled and nodded. "How about I help you find her?"

He nodded. I held out my hand to him but he didn't take it. "I'm scared," he said in a small voice.

"It's okay to be scared. But everything is going to be okay. My dad is Iron Man and he's going to make sure everyone is alright."

The little boy's eyes brightened as I spoke. "Your dad is Iron Man?" he asked in an awed voice.

I nodded. "Yes. Maybe once we've found your mom you can meet him." The little boy suddenly surged forward and took my hand in his. "What's your name?"

"Jacob."

"Okay Jacob, let's find your mom." We walked hand in hand through the expo while Jacob asked question after question about Iron Man before he pointed to one of the many drones we were passing and asked "what are those?"

I was debating whether to just say they were robots when I noticed the centre chest piece in a nearby drone was flashing red. A piercing sound was emitted with every flash, steadily increasing in volume. I glanced around. Approximately half of the drones were flashing red.


	16. Chapter 16

"Oh shit," I muttered, momentarily forgetting the small boy grasping my hand. This was the plan? Blowing up the drones and hoping it does as much damage as possible?

The flashes and sounds were increasing in speed, indicating I was running out of time. I scanned my surroundings, partly searching for a place to hide and partly looking to see if anyone was around who needed warning. It was only us. I quickly bent down and lifted Jacob into my arms. I ran for the nearest building. It was small and as I neared I saw it was a set of toilets. And it was locked. I resisted the urge to swear.

I ran around to the back of the building and looked around. There were no drones. I set Jacob down on the ground against the wall. I could hear in the distance the sound of the beeping were increasing in speed.

"There's going to be a very loud bang Jacob. But don't worry, you're going to be fine."

I crouched down and shielded Jacob's body with my own. The piercing sound stopped and for a second there was complete silence. Then the bombs went off.

Even though we had some distance between us and the nearest drone, the sound was almost deafening. I could feel the ground beneath us vibrating from the shock. The sounds of destruction could be heard once the blast was over. I wanted to know how much damage had been done but I was too afraid to walk around the building and look. God, what if someone had been killed? Yes, Ivan was the one who was doing this but it was because of me and dad. It's hard not to feel personally responsible if anything happens.

Jacob was still tucked safely away in my arms. Surprisingly he hadn't made a sound. I released him from my arms and quickly assessed him. He looked perfectly fine as he gazed up at me with wide eyes.

"See, we're fine," I said with a forced smile. I wasn't smiling on the inside. I was scared. I was already thinking of the repercussions of what had just happened. No doubt there would have been news cameras that would have captured everything. Soon everyone in the world see what had happened. And they will probably blame us. I did.

But I couldn't think about the future now. Right now I needed to know if everyone was okay. Where was dad when that explosion when off? Was he okay? What about Pepper, and Happy, and even Natasha? I needed to know that everyone was alright.

I was reaching into my pocket to use the phone I'd stolen to call dad when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Hey! Are you alright?!"

"Yeah," I said as I stood up and turned around. "I'm…"

It took me a second to place the face. And when I did, I wondered how on Earth I could forget that face.

"Doctor Shepherd?"

Standing in front of me, complete in a white coat, was Doctor Daniel Shepherd. I flashed back to the last time I had seen him. It had been back in the hospital in LA when I was still recovering from Obadiah's attack. I had totally been crushing on him but with a smashed up face and 2 broken limbs, it hadn't exactly the best time to ask him on a date.

He hadn't changed much in 7 months. His blonde hair had grown slightly, curling at his temples, and even in the darkness I could see his gorgeous blue eyes staring at me.

"Morgan?" There was surprise in his voice but also pleasure.

I was secretly pleased that he remembered me. Although I guess treating a girl who had been attacked because her dad was Iron Man would be pretty unforgettable.

"Daniel," I said as we walked towards each other. Jacob's hand was still in mine and he stayed close to my legs, using them to hide behind. "What are you doing here?"

"I was here representing my hospital, doing a presentation on the future of medicine. We were just about to start when all the shooting happened." His eyes scanned my face as he stepped closer. "What happened?" His fingers brushed the side of my face. The touch sent shivers down my spine. "Did you get this from the blast?"

In the excitement of the last 20 minutes, I'd almost forgotten how awful and bloodied my face looked. The pain in my broken fingers was brought back to the front of my mind. Luckily Jacob was grasping the other hand.

"Oh no, this is from earlier. Long story." Would I ever meet this man when I wasn't battered and bruised?

"What's going on?"

"The usual. Someone is attacking dad." Jacob suddenly tugged on my jeans. I'd momentarily forgotten about him. "Oh. Can you please take Jacob out the front to the ambulances? He's lost his mom so hopefully they can help find her."

"Yeah, sure. What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm going to go looking for dad and find out what exactly what has happened." I bent down to Jacob's level. "This is my friend Daniel. He's going to take you to some people who can help you find your mom."

"No!" Jacob whined as I went to pass his hand to Daniel.

"It's okay. He's going to help. And remember, when you find your mom we can go see Iron Man."

Jacob hesitated for just a moment before he let go of my hand and took Daniel's. "Hey mate," he said in an adorable voice.

"Thank you," I said as I stood back up.

"Be careful." He stared into my eyes and for a moment it felt like he was looking at me, the real me. Not the bloodied, beaten me that stood before him. This couldn't just be in my head. The sparks that were flying couldn't just be from me, right? I got my answer when he said "Be careful. When this is all over I'd really like to see you again."

Okay, so it definitely wasn't in my head. I could feel the big, stupid grin on my face and knew I must have looked like an idiot but I couldn't stop it. This gorgeous, talented, intelligent and caring man was interested in me! Sure, I'd had cute guys like me before but I had never reciprocated their feelings. They had only been interested in my money, and who my father was. But with Daniel it felt different. I don't know why. For all I knew, he could've been just after my money like all the rest. But I'm sure he wasn't. This one was different.

I watched Daniel walk away hand in hand with Jacob. Before he turned the corner and disappeared, he looked over his shoulder and shot me a smile.

I stood rooted to the spot for a few seconds, forgetting everything around me. After a few moments, I ran back into the main area, surveying the damage the exploding drones had caused. There was rubble everywhere and a lot of damaged buildings but thankfully, I couldn't see any injured people. Half of the drones were still standing and I wondered why they hadn't been programmed to blow with the others. Right now it didn't matter. Less exploding drones meant less damage and destruction.

I fished out the stolen phone from my jeans and punched in the number for the suit. While Pepper had ignored the unknown number, dad picked up on the first ring. "'Ello," he said in a calm, and slightly sarcastic, tone.

"Of course you would answer an unknown call while battling a crazed mad man."

"I ordered a pizza. They're going to call me when it's ready." I rolled my eyes, genuinely unsure if he was joking or not.

"What the hell is going on? Have you finished him yet? This battle has destroyed half of the expo!" I was walking through the now eerily silent expo, dodging the exploded drone remains and debris.

"And how would you know that?" he asked with feigned suspicion. "Could it be perhaps because you ignored my order to go to the hospital and have instead come to the expo?"

"Did you really expect me to do anything different?" I asked.

"Wishful thinking. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm perfect, as usual."

"What about Pepper? Is she-"

"She's fine," he said cutting across me. "She's here with me and Rhodey."

"Oh thank God." I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Where are you? I'll come pick you up." I heard the powering up of the suit through the phone.

"Uh." I looked around. "I'm 200 meters North of the Unisphere. So I take it Ivan is dead?"

"Yeah." I wish I could pretend to feel some semblance of sadness about that fact, but honestly I couldn't give a damn. He deserved what he got after hurting so many people, not just here at the expo, but back in Monaco too. "When he realized he couldn't win he activated the bombs in the drones. Blew them all up, including himself."

"Not all," I said as I walked past an intact drone, still standing motionless with its gun aimed at the sky. "About half of them are still standing. I wonder why he didn't program them to all blow up?"

I heard the sound of dad's voice but I wasn't paying attention to the words. My mind was still stuck on the unexploded drones. It just didn't make sense. Why wouldn't he go for maximum impact? Maybe there had been an error? Maybe they were supposed to have exploded but something went wrong? I wanted to believe that but Ivan wouldn't have been that careless. He had planned this out to a tee.

So he must have accounted for the fact that he might die before fulfilling his wish to see dad's reputation in tatters. What plan did he have for that situation? How could he still have one last impact even though he was dead?

It was like I had been standing in the dark and suddenly the lights were switched on. It all made sense.

"Shit!" Adrenaline was quickly being pumped back into my veins.

"What?" Dad's tone swiftly went to one of carelessness to one of concern. "What is it?"

"I have to find Daniel! I have to make sure he and Jacob are safe!" I kept the phone up to my ear as I began sprinting through the park. I leapt over rubble and bits of drones, ignoring my protesting legs.

"Daniel? Jacob? What are you on about? What's going on?"

"The drones!"

"You mean the unexploded ones?"

"They're not unexploded. They're about to-" a red light suddenly began flashing in the centre piece of the drone I passed. "explode."

"Shit!" Dad yelled as he finally comprehended what was going on.

"It's like terrorist attacks," I rambled as I continued to run, my eyes desperately searching out Daniel and Jacob. "There's a first wave of attacks and then the ambulances and police and everyone comes and then there's another attack."

"Morgan, stay where you are. I'm almost there." I hated hearing the fear and concern in my father's voice.

"There's not enough time," I said with despair as I realized the lights coming from the drones were flashing faster. Faster than the first attack. Ivan wanted to make sure there was less time to escape. This was the maximum impact he wanted.

I couldn't see Daniel. I just prayed he wasn't near any drones. I realized I wasn't as lucky as I looked around. There were at least 7 drones in my immediate vicinity.

"I'm sorry Dad," I said as I continued to run, desperately looking for a clear space. "I love you."

"No! I'm almost there!" I hated that I was going to leave dad alone. No, he had Pepper. And Rhodey. He wouldn't be alone. He would just feel like he was. Looks like Ivan was getting his wish. Losing me would destroy dad. He didn't have to be dead to feel like he was. "I can see you! You're going to be fine."

I stopped and looked up into the sky. I could just see the red and gold dot that was dad. I smiled as I watched him flying towards me. For a second I truly believed I was going to be okay.

Then the drones exploded.

The sound was deafening and the heat felt like it was peeling the skin from my bones. The back of my eyelids glowed red. My hands flew up to protect my face from instinct. I felt my feet leaving the ground as the force of the blast knocked me back. I flew through the air as shrapnel shredded my skin. Gravity pulled me back down, but instead of landing on flat ground, something hard and large broke my fall. My head snapped back, knocking hard against metal. My body rolled to the ground. I squinted and saw through the haze that I'd landed on the remains of the previously exploded drone.

Then it all went black.  
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My ears were ringing. I couldn't hear anything over the sound. I could feel someone touching me. Their hand was on my wrist, checking for a pulse. I wanted to tell them I was alive but I couldn't. My eyes wouldn't open, neither would my mouth. All I could do was lie there in…wait, no. I wasn't in pain. Maybe I was dead after all. A blast like that should be causing some serious pain. It must be the adrenaline. It was stopping me from feeling the full extent of my injuries. That thought scared me. What injuries did I have that my own body was trying to protect me from?

I forced myself to open my eyes. It took a couple of tries and a few seconds to adjust. There were two faces hovering above mine, both of whom I recognized. Dad had his faceplate flipped open and the worry all over his face disappeared the second he saw my eyes open. I saw his lips moving but couldn't hear the words over the ringing. The second person kneeling beside me was Daniel. He looked unhurt so I hoped that Jacob was too. He was talking as well, looking down at me with a smile that didn't quiet conceal the concern.

I lifted my hand, which was surprisingly difficult, and brought it up to my ear. I think they understood me as they both nodded and stopped talking down to me, instead talking to each other. I wondered if Dad remembered Daniel.

The pain was slowly seeping into my body. I could feel Daniel's hands roaming my body, assessing me for injuries. It was only then that I became aware of what I couldn't feel.

My legs.

I was numb from the waist down. I focused all my remaining energy on moving my legs, wiggling a toe, anything. But there was nothing.

Tears were rolling off my face. I could feel myself sobbing, the tears on my face and the heaving of my chest, but I couldn't hear it. I curled my hands into fists and began punching the sides of my thighs. I must have looked a sight, lying flat on my back while punching my legs.

I could feel the pain in the fists, but not my legs. My punches became more frenzied as the tears increased. Dad's cold metal hand wrapped around my wrist to stop me but I flicked it away. My punches decreased to slaps before dying completely. I felt nothing.

I laid there sobbing hysterically. I wanted to tell them but I couldn't hear my own voice. I don't think I needed to tell them anyway. A light suddenly dawned in Daniel's eyes and after murmuring something to dad, the same light showed in his. We were all thinking the same thing.

Dad's hand was suddenly stroking my hair, trying to soothe me. He hadn't done that since I was a kid. His lips were moving, saying reassuring things I gathered. He smiled as I looked into his eyes but I could see it cracking at the edges. He was just as scared as I was, but putting on a brave face for me.

The ringing in my ears was dulling slightly and through it I could just make out the sounds of a siren coming closer. An ambulance. Too late, the damage is done.

I lied there motionless, with a few tears still escaping. I didn't want to be there anymore. I wanted to go back, before this all began. Before Ivan, before Obadiah, before Iron Man. I wanted to go back. The darkness pulling at me grew stronger. I closed my eyes, ignoring Dad lightly shaking my shoulder, and let it take me.


	17. Chapter 17

I woke up in a haze. I remember feeling this way the last time I woke up from a drug induced sleep. My mind was foggy. Where was I? What had happened? Why the hell was I in so much pain?

I was in a bed. For a moment I thought I must have been back home but the hum of machines that I could hear wasn't normal. Hospital. I must be in a hospital. Why?

I opened my eyes, only to be immediately assaulted by the insanely bright lights above me. I moaned as I instantly shut my eyes. Could someone turn off the fucking lights? Why the hell was it so bright? After what felt like years my eyes slowly adjusted and I could open them properly. I was in a large room, with muted grey walls. There was a large TV and sofa at the other end of the room and a huge window showing a view of towering skyscrapers. Waking up in a room like this, someone might think they were in a hotel, not a hospital. If it weren't for the army of machines surrounding the bed, it would look exactly like a 5 star hotel room. No doubt dad would be paying thousands of dollars a day for this room.

I looked down at the numerous tubes and wires on my body. I had five wires stuck onto my chest which lead to a machine beeping in rhythm to my heartbeat. I had a nasal cannula on my face with those annoying prongs stuck up my nose. I also had no less than 4 tubes coming out of my arms and I prayed one of them was pumping drugs into me because I sure as hell needed them.

Dad was currently asleep in the chair next to my bed. His head was resting near our joined hands on the bed. I took a deep breath and squeezed his hand slightly. That movement was enough to rouse him from sleep. His head shot up instantly and his eyes roamed my face.

"Morgan!" His voice was dripping with relief. "How are you feeling?"

I opened my mouth but all that came out was a harsh croak.

"Here." He reached over and poured a glass of water from the jug sitting beside the bed. He directed the straw into my mouth and allowed me to take a few sips before taking it away. The cold water was soothing as it went down. "How do you feel?"

"Pain," I croaked.

"I'll get a doctor," he said as I stood.

"No." I reached out and grabbed his hand. I didn't want to be alone. "What happened?" My mind was still clearing the haze and I couldn't remember why I was here.

He sat back down and took my hand back into his. "Do you remember Ivan's attack at the expo?" I noticed as he was speaking how terrible he looked. He had dark bags under his eyes and it looked like he'd aged 10 years. His clothes were wrinkled, like he hadn't changed them in a few days, and he smelt like he hadn't showered either.

I closed my eyes and searched my memory. It took a few minutes before the puzzle pieces of the night fell back into place. "The drones," I said as I opened my eyes.

Dad nodded. The sadness was clear in his eyes. "Ivan programmed the drones to explode. You were near one when it went off and I…I was too late to save you." Guilt and despair laced his tone.

"Not your fault," I said croakily. "I thought I could save…" More of the nights events came flooding back. "Daniel and Jacob!" I exclaimed suddenly. "Are they okay?"

"They're both fine," Dad reassured me. "You did save them. You saved that little boy. You also saved a lot of other people I heard."

"Couldn't just stand there…and do nothing," I said in my defence. I knew he was going to be angry after he heard about me running into burning buildings, but what else could I have done? Stand there and watch it burn to ash?

"I know. I would have done the same." I sadness was creeping back into his eyes, mixed with something else. Pity. "I'm so proud of you." With his free hand he reached up and stroked the hair from my face. The action stirred up the remaining missing memories.

"Dad." Something in my voice must have warned him of what I was about to say because something in his face changed. "I can't…I can't feel my legs."

He didn't say anything. He just continued to stroke my hair. That scared me more than anything.

In the silence of the room the reality finally hit me. "I'm paralysed."

"No. We just have to…I'll go get the doctor. He can explain it." He stood again to leave but I managed to reach out and grab his hand to stop him.

"No, I want you to tell me."

"The doctor can explain it better."

"Please."

After a moment of indecision, he sighed and sat back down. He grasped my hand with both of his and looked into my eyes. As I looked at him I realised I'd never seen him so scared in my life. He was trying to hide it, but deep down I knew he was terrified.

"When that blast went off near you, it…it…"

The more he stuttered, the more annoyed I became. I just wanted him to spit it out. He'd always been as blunt as a butter knife yet now he could barely get any words out.

"Come on, just say it."

"You landed badly on your back. The doctors say you have an acute spinal cord injury. They had to perform surgery to stabilize your spine and decompress the pressure. You also had some internal bleeding which they stopped. They've strapped your broken fingers and stitched up most of your cuts."

He was avoiding saying it. I opened my mouth but he cut me off before I could get a single word out.

"They said your spine is in shock from the accident. This could be causing your loss of sensation." By the way he was speaking I could tell he had tried to memorize every single word the doctors had said. "We just have to wait a couple of days and see what happens."

As I absorbed his words, one caught my attention. "Could."

"What?"

"You said could. The shock could be causing the sensation loss."

"Yes, it could. Or it may be because you've…permanently damaged your spinal cord. In the next couple of days, once the shock has worn off, we'll be able to know what's happened."

"So if in the next few days I can't feel my legs, that's it. I'm permanently paralysed?"

"Yes." Tears were brimming in his eyes. I should be the one crying but I wasn't. I guess I, like my spinal cord, was still in shock. I couldn't accept the fact that I might never walk again. It just didn't seem possible. I was only 17. I couldn't spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I had spent 6 weeks in one after Obadiah's attack and that 6 weeks had been hell. Now instead of 6 weeks, I could be spending 60 years in one.

I couldn't accept it. Not until I knew for sure. It was just shock. I'd get the feeling back, I had to.

"I'm so sorry Morgan," dad said, his voice breaking as the tears now flowed down his face. "This is all my fault. I couldn't save you."

"Stop it!" I yelled, startling him. "Stop feeling like you are personally responsible for every person in this world. That you're responsible for every little bad thing that happens in this country. Just because you're Iron Man doesn't mean you have to save everyone. You can't!"

I took a deep breath as the heart monitor beside me began steadily increasing in rhythm. "This is not your fault. It's not my fault. It's not your father's fault. A crazy man wanting revenge is who is responsible for this. Not you. I'm sick of watching you blame yourself for every tiny thing that goes wrong. You're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders when you don't have to! If you keep feeling like this you will run yourself into the ground, and soon it'll be you in this bed. Just…stop it."

My speech would do little to quell his guilt over everything that had happened. He would still blame himself for not being able to save everyone. For not being able to save me.

I sighed in exhaustion and let my eyelids close. I wanted to go back to sleep. In my dreams I was happy, I could walk, I could fly. In my dreams my world was perfect. In reality, my world was crumbling around me.

I felt dad's hands gently brushing back my hair again. He whispered the words "I'm sorry," repeatedly as I slowly drifted back to sleep.  
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When I came to I was alone in my room. I felt guilty for thinking it but I was glad dad wasn't there. I couldn't stand to look at him and see the shame on his face. It wasn't his fault what happened but I still felt some anger towards him. At least I think it was towards him. I had so many emotions churning around inside of me, I didn't know what I was feeling or who these emotions were aimed at.

I think I was partly angry at myself. No one had forced me to go to the expo. I could have just gone straight into the hospital and let dad sort out the mess. But I had made the decision to go there. No one made me run around the expo helping people. I made that choice, and now I was dealing with the repercussions. I tried to tell myself I should have just stayed, I shouldn't have gone there. But this is who I am. I can't stand around and let other people do all the work. It was in my nature to help. If I hadn't have gone there, all those people I saved might not have made it. The family in the burning building, the girl pinned under the drone, Jacob. Knowing they were alive because of me made the sacrifice of my legs almost bearable.

I looked down at my legs, covered underneath the bed sheets and blanket. I couldn't describe the feeling of looking at them but not being able to control them. I tried to wiggle my toes. I focused every bit of energy I had towards my toes. Nothing. I grunted in frustration and threw my head back against the pillows.

This was just temporary. I couldn't give up the hope that this was just shock. Until I knew for sure, I would hold onto that last thread of hope. It was all I had.

A knock on the door startled me. I brushed away a tear from the corner of my eye as the door slowly opened.

"Hi," Pepper said softly as she stepped into the room. In her arms was a small bouquet of colourful flowers.

"Hey," I said with a forced smile which I'm sure she saw straight through. I was relieved to see her safe and unharmed.

"How are you feeling?"

"Alright." I could see she wanted to bring up the topic of my legs, but was unsure of how I would react. I looked up into her eyes and saw the same thing I'd seen in Dad's. Sympathy and pity. I hoped that if this turned out to be permanent that those looks would eventually stop. If everyone looked at me like that for the rest of my life I would probably scream at them.

"I'm fine Pepper. You don't have to tiptoe around the fact that I might be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life."

"I'm so sorry Morgan." She placed the flowers down beside the bed before grabbing my hand gently.

"It's okay Pep." I squeezed her hand. "I'm still processing everything and I'm just taking it one day at a time."

She nodded and smiled at my words, her vibrant colour hair bouncing with the movement. "You know, no matter what happens, I'm here for you. We will all help you get through this."

"I know. Thank you Pepper."

She leant down and softly kissed me on the cheek. Tears threatened to appear in my eyes so I was glad when a knock at the door drew Pepper's attention away from me.

Two doctors walked into the room. They were both mature, grey haired men who were no doubt the best doctors in the city. Dad would have made sure of that. "Miss Stark, I'm Dr. Smith and this is Dr. Knight. We have a few things we'd like to discuss with you."

"I'll wait outside," Pepper said.

"No, please stay." I didn't want to be alone for this. She took my hand again and turned to face the doctors.

I was hoping they would have some more news but they were only stating what we already knew. Spine in shock. Have to wait and see. Wait for the shock to wear off. Perform some tests after that. Nothing new. I just nodded a lot and acted like I was listening. All I wanted to hear was that I was going to walk again. Until they could tell me that, I didn't care what they had to say.

When they left the room the only sound was coming from the machines. I was worried Pepper would start talking about my injuries again so I changed the topic before she could start it. "So Hammer helped fake Ivan's death. I knew he was desperate to compete with Stark Industries, but that's desperate."

Pepper took a seat beside the bed. "Yeah. He'll be in jail for a long time after what he did."

"Somehow I always knew that was where he was going to end up."

Pepper gave me a weak smile but I knew her mind was still elsewhere. All the light in her eyes disappeared as she rested her hand upon mine. "I'm sorry Morgan."

"For what?' I questioned.

"I should have known something was happening." The regret and shame she was feeling was etched upon her face. "You didn't call me all day. I thought I was giving you space but if I had called and you didn't answer, I would have realised something had happened to you."

"Pepper, stop." I firmly grasped her hand in mine as I looked up into her eyes. "I'm getting sick of everyone around me blaming themselves for things that are not their fault. We all thought Ivan was dead. There was no way for you to know that he was alive and was going to kidnap me. The only people to blame for this whole situation is Ivan and Hammer."

"But I-"

A knock on the door interrupted her, for which I was glad. It was bad enough that I had to deal with Dad's guilt, I couldn't handle Pepper's as well. I knew in a situation like this it's normal for people who escaped unscathed to blame themselves but it gets annoying quick, especially when that blame is misplaced.

The door opened slightly and a familiar face hesitantly peered inside.

"Oh sorry, am I interrupting?"

I couldn't stop the involuntary grin that spread over my face when Daniel looked at me.

"No," I said instantly.

"No, I was just leaving," Pepper said as she retrieved her handbag. She shot me a small smile before she slipped out of the room.

While I tried to appear relaxed and calm, the heart monitor machine told him I was anything but. "How are you feeling?" Daniel asked as he pulled the chair closer to my bed and took a seat.

I looked down at my half paralysed body and shrugged. "As well as can be expected."

He opened his mouth but I spoke first. "I swear to God if the next words out of your mouth are 'I'm sorry', someone's going to get hurt."

He let out a small chuckle. "Okay I won't say it." As I looked at his face, I realized it was the first time someone had looked at me without pity. Maybe it was from his years as a doctor, learning to control his features, or maybe it was because he didn't really know me all that well. Whatever the reason, I was glad to be able to have a conversation without feeling pitied.

"How's Jacob?" I asked.

"He's fine. They found his mother here in the hospital when I bought him in. She's got a broken leg but will be fine."

"Thank God." I'd be lying if I said the thought that Jacob's mother died in the attack hadn't crossed my mind. It was a relief to know that not only was she okay, but that she had been reunited with her son.

"I told your father about your promise to Jacob. He popped in to say hello to him yesterday."

I was amazed that Daniel had remembered that promise, let alone made sure I didn't break it. For the first time in days, a genuine smile spread across my face. "Thank you so much." I couldn't put into words how much it meant to me that Daniel had done that. I made a mental note to thank Dad when I saw him as well.

"It's the least I could do."

I could feel a blush creeping up my cheeks as I looked into his crystal blue eyes. For a moment I forgot about everything. Forgot about my legs, forgot about dad, forgot about Ivan and the pain he'd caused.

Then that moment passed.

"You're so brave," Daniel said. There was genuine awe and respect in his tone. "Your dad told me everything that happened. Even after being kidnapped and attacked by this Ivan guy, your first instinct was to go to the expo to help. A lot of people have contacted your dad, telling him that his daughter saved their life. You're a hero."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "And look what being a so-called 'hero' has gotten me," I said as I gestured to my legs. Although it would have been easy for me to regret my choices, I didn't. I hate that my choices led to this but I couldn't, and wouldn't, change them. How could I when having my legs back would mean that those people would be dead.

"I know it's horrible having to just sit and wait to see what happens but you can't give up yet."

I had a question rolling around in my brain that I was afraid to ask, but I had to know the answer to. "How many injuries like this have you seen?"

It looked like that was the last question he'd wanted me to ask. "A few," he answered.

"And how many of those regained the use of their legs?" I held my breath as I waited for the answer. I knew these past cases would not affect my results or recovery but I still had to know.

Daniel bit his lip as his eyes searched my face. "None."

I let out the breath I had been holding in a rush. That answer had all but cemented my idea of my future. I had to just get use to the fact that this was real life. This was permanent and I had to deal with it.

"Don't give up hope just yet," he said as he saw the light in my eyes die. "This could still just be temporary. And even if it isn't, we will deal with it."

"We?" I questioned. "Look, this could have happened before," I said, gesturing between us. "But you didn't sign up for this."

"I'm not going anywhere Morgan."

"But I don't want you to feel obligated to-"

Daniel reached across the bed to firmly grasp my hand. "I'm not going anywhere," he said decisively. Our eyes locked and suddenly no words needed to be said. I know my worries about him staying out of some weird sense of obligation would arise again later but in that moment I knew he wanted to be with me, legs or no legs.

Our fingers intertwined and stayed like that for some time. We talked for hours and I was beyond grateful that no one interrupted us doing that time. In the back of my mind I wondered where dad was. Had Pepper somehow managed to keep him away, knowing that I'd want some time with Daniel alone? Daniel and dad had obviously spoken to each other since that night. That made me wonder what dad thought of him, not that that really mattered to me. But surely dad would approve of him. He's sweet, charming, handsome and a doctor! What more could dad want for me?

We learnt a lot about each other in those few hours. Like myself he had graduated high school at a young age before going to university to study medicine. He'd known he wanted to become a doctor from the age of 7 when his younger sister had broken her arm after falling out of a tree and he couldn't do anything to help her. Unfortunately we had another thing in common. His mother had died when he was 4 years old. The pain that showed in his eyes when he spoke of her was something I could understand. We passed over that painful topic and started talking about the first time we met.

I was surprised to discover that even though I had been covered in bruises and definitely looking worse for wear, Daniel had felt something the moment he had laid eyes on me. I had certainly felt something for him. I was even more surprised when he told me he'd wanted to ask me out on a date but had been too shy and nervous to ask, thinking I wouldn't be interested. He'd regretted his decision since that day. He swore if he ever met me again he'd ask me out.

"So Morgan," he said with a playful smile. "Would you like to go out on a date with me?"

"I would love to."


	18. Chapter 18

The sun had set by the time dad returned to my room. Before he flipped the main light on, the only light in the room had been the soft glow from the heart monitor. I was still in a daze, with this huge silly smile on my face as I thought about Daniels visit earlier. I squinted as the light suddenly flooded the room.

As my eyes adjusted I took in his appearance. He'd obviously showered, changed his clothes and shaved. While he was finally looking a bit more like himself, there was still a weight sitting on his shoulders, dragging him down.

"Hey kiddo," he said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Hey dad." I wondered if he'd avoided my room all day because he knew there was a certain conversation we needed to have.

"How…how are you?" I knew the real question he wanted to ask was 'how are your legs?'. Despite everyone's insistence not to, I'd basically given up all hope that the felling and function of my legs would return. The sooner I accepted it and started dealing with it, the sooner I could move on. The idea of starting at ground zero, learning how to live my life in a wheelchair, scared the crap out of me. Learning all over again how to take care of myself was terrifying. But I couldn't show that in front of dad. Telling him all that would just increase the guilt he was already carrying around. So I just plastered a fake smile on my face and pretended I wasn't scared out of my mind. I had a feeling he was doing the same thing.

"I'm fine. Nothing's changed."

He took the seat beside me and for the first time in a long time he had nothing to say. I listened to the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor. I counted my own heartbeat to 10 before I took a deep breath and spoke.

"Dad, we need to talk about something."

"I know we do. We need to talk about Natalie." While his face appeared to show he was serious, I could see the sparkle in his eyes, the sparkle that he got whenever he was joking around.

I nodded to his words without comprehending them. "Yes- wait, what?" I looked at him like he was crazy. "Why do we need to talk about Natalie?"

"She was a spy for S.H.I.E.L.D." I could tell Dad was enjoying the fact that he'd distracted me from the original conversation I wanted to have but we were going to talk about it eventually.

"What?!" Although I had suspected something wasn't right about Natalie, it was still a shock to hear that I was right. "She was spying on you for S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

He nodded. "And her name is Natasha, not Natalie."

I resisted the urge to tell him I'd known all along that something was off about her. "So why was S.H.I.E.L.D spying on you?"

"Uh…basically they wanted to see if I'd fit in with their super-secret boyband."

"That Avengers initiative that Fury guy talked to you about?"

He nodded. I briefly remembered Dad telling me about getting a visit from this Nick Fury guy while I had still been in hospital after Obadiah's attack. He'd mentioned the Avengers initiative but nothing had ever really come from it. "So what's the verdict? Are you cool enough for the band?"

"Ah, of course I'm cool enough for their band. But, you know, some stuff was said about narcissism and…self-destructive tendencies. They'll call me though."

I nodded but it was not surprising that they decided dad wasn't the best fit for their team considering his recent behaviour. "Speaking of self-destruction…" I watched the smile drop from his face as he realised where this conversation was heading. "Let's talk about your behaviour over the past few months."

"Morgan I-"

"No. You don't get to interrupt or make excuses. We are going to talk about this and you can't sit there and make jokes about it or pretend it isn't a big deal." As I looked into his eyes, I swallowed the lump in my throat. I wanted to cry and yell at the same time but I was determined to have this conversation without doing either of those things. I knew from the start I wasn't going to be successful. "You were dying Dad. For months you were dying. And for months you lied to me. I asked you over and over again what was wrong and each time you said nothing. I knew something was going on but I trusted that you wouldn't keep anything big from me. I trusted that you would tell me eventually and let me help you. But you didn't." Tear were brimming in my eyes. I wasn't sure if they were from sadness or anger. I blinked them away and dad's face came back into focus. Guilt, sadness and regret were written across his face but he stayed silent. "I'm trying to imagine what was going through your mind when you decided to keep this to yourself. I know you would have been scared and angry but that doesn't change the fact that you should have told me."

Dad was nodding and I saw that tears were shining in his eyes. "I know. I know I should have told you. I'm so sorry. I thought I was protecting you-"

"How? How on Earth did you think that by not telling me that you were dying that you were protecting me? I don't understand that. Were you even going to tell me? By the way you've been acting and what Ivan told me you only had days to live. Were you maybe going to mention that before it happened? Or did you think that me walking down to the garage next week and seeing you dead on the floor was the best way to go? How is that protection? Did you think that Pepper and I were going to sit there thinking 'Oh yeah, he was just protecting us'. No. We would be sitting there thinking that you didn't trust us enough. That you didn't care about us enough to tell us. Is that really how you wanted us to remember you?"

I bit the inside of my cheek, hoping that pain would distract me and stop the tears from falling. "Did you stop and think, while you were racing cars and destroying houses, that those moments would be my last memories of you? Honestly dad, I just….I just wonder what goes through your head sometimes."

"I wonder the same thing. I know sometimes I don't make the best decisions and I wish I could go back and change this. I was going to tell you at first…but when it looked like nothing was going to work…I was scared and I didn't want you to have this weighing you down." He sighed and looked down to his hands. "Ever since you were born and your mother…" He choked up as old memories flooded him. It was obvious that even after all this time her death still hit him hard. "I've been terrified of leaving you alone. My parents died when I was young and for 17 years I've been scared that that would happen to you. I never wanted you to be alone…so when it looked like that was going to happen…I panicked and acted stupidly. I'm sorry."

I could see the raw pain and anguish on his face. I believed every word he'd said but that didn't change the fact that what he'd done was wrong and I was still angry. I was angry that his first instinct when dying was to act like a child. Something I'd always been very insecure about when growing up was the fact that dad was seemed to act like having me got in the way of him living his life. The drinking and the partying and the girls, that was the lifestyle he wanted and having me around always seemed to get in his way. I knew it was a ridiculous thought and dad had convinced me of that many times, but it was still a deep insecurity. So when dad had starting acting like a child again after his brief period of being responsible since Afghanistan, that insecurity flared back up again. I wanted him to act like a parent instead of a child.

I knew he was sorry and I wanted to forgive him but all the anger I had wasn't going to dissipate after one apology. It was going to take time. A lot of it. It felt like he'd destroyed something between us. I didn't know how long it would take to fix it, or even if it was repairable at all. I felt like I couldn't trust him anymore and that absolutely broke my heart. Parents should be the only people on Earth that you can completely rely on and trust. And I couldn't do that anymore.

"Have you explain this to Pepper? And Rhodey?" I asked. I wasn't the only person who deserved an apology from him.

He nodded as he met my gaze again. "I talked to Pepper when you were in surgery. And Rhodey…he's known for a couple of days." I raised my eyebrows in a silent question. Why had he confided in Rhodey, yet not me? It felt like he'd just delivered another blow. "He found me in the garage the other day and helped me change the palladium core. I had to tell him."

I was upset that he'd told Rhodey and not me but I pushed that feeling down. What was done was done and nobody could change it now. "How did you fix the palladium problem anyway?"

"I just discovered a new element to replace it," he said casually.

"You…you discovered a new element? How?"

I listened intently as dad explained everything that had happened since the night of his birthday party and subsequent destruction of our home. How Natasha was revealed to be working for S.H.I.E.L.D and Nick Fury, who gave dad a bunch of his father's things, including the video he was watching the day I'd gone back home. While on an unauthorized trip to Pepper's office he'd unearthed a model of the original expo and discovered that his father had left a diagram of the molecular structure for a new element within the model. Despite being on 'house arrest' he managed to build a particle accelerator and synthesise the new element which was now powering his arc reactor.

"Are you sure it's safe?" I didn't want this new core to create a new set of problems.

"Jarvis ran every test," he reassured me. "It's safe."

"Thank God." It had scared me to the bottom of my soul knowing that the thing that had been keeping my father alive had actually been slowly killing him this whole time. I didn't even want to think about what would have happened in the next few days if he hadn't found that new element to replace the palladium core. "I'm still so angry at you," I said as I clutched his hand. "But I am so freaking happy and proud of you for discovering that element."

"I'm thinking of calling it….badassium."

"Somehow I think you might have a few legal issues with that."

He chuckled. "Yeah, probably. But won't stop me trying."

It felt good to forget everything for a moment and laugh with him again. But that moment passed quickly.

"Morgan…can you tell me what happened with Ivan?" I knew it killed him not knowing everything that had happened after I was kidnapped. But I didn't see how telling him very detail was going to help him. It was just going to make him feel even worse for not rescuing me sooner.

"Are you sure you want to know?" I asked. "I don't see how this could possibly help."

"Please," he insisted. "I need to know."

I sighed. "Fine." I decided to keep it brief. Just rip it off like a band aid. "I was coming back from the zoo when they grabbed me off the street. I tried to fight them but they overpowered me and knocked me out. When I woke up I was tied to a chair in a closet in Hammer's warehouse. I could hear Hammer talking about the suits Ivan was supposed to make for him, and how he'd managed to get his hands on a piece of Stark technology, which I gather Rhodey gave to him?" Dad nodded. "After that he left for the expo and Ivan pulled me out. He started explaining his crazy revenge scheme. Told me how Howard supposedly got his father deported after they worked on the arc reactor together. He called you and I knew that you would find me eventually so I tried to keep him talking. That didn't go so well when he started beating me and breaking my fingers. And then I made it worse my spitting blood in his face." I could see the mixture of anger and pride in my father's features. "That's when he tried to cut off my tongue but thankfully that's when you showed up."

"He what?" You could practically see the anger radiating off of him. His hands were clenched into fists, his knuckles white.

"Can we just let it go? He's dead, I'm fine, kind of. It doesn't matter now what was done in the past."

"It does matter," he retorted angrily. "I should have protected you. What's the point of being Iron Man if I can't protect my own daughter? The person who means the most to me." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You were right. You told me months ago that people were going to target you and Pepper to get to me and I was too arrogant to listen. I'm sorry."

"Even if you had listened to me it wouldn't have changed anything. Ivan was hell bent on revenge. He would have found one way or another to get it. Lets just learn from our mistakes and let it go."

"How can I let it go when my mistakes have led to this?" he said as he gestured to my immobile legs.

"I'm dealing with this dad. Maybe you should too." I looked down at my legs. It was finally time to accept they were never going to move again. "Yeah, I'm angry and wishing that we could go back and change this but it's not going to help anyone thinking like that. We just have to get through this one day at a time." I could tell by the look on his face that he was surprised at how quickly I'd come to terms with this. He was probably expecting yelling and tears. Maybe they were still to come. Lying in this bed made it easy to accept my future, but when I go back home into a familiar environment and try to live my life like normal, I think that's when it's going to hit home. "We'll put in ramps at home and you can build me an awesome wheelchair. Maybe put some repulsors in it."

While dad's smile was cracking at the edges, I could see he was trying to keep his brave façade up in front of me. "Of course. Luckily I started construction on the house last week."

I let out bark of laughter at his reference to our half destroyed home. That still had to be dealt with, but right now it felt so good just to laugh with him again.

"We'll get through this dad." I took his hand into mine. "Together we can."

"I know kiddo."


	19. Chapter 19

It was nearing midnight and my eyes were slowly starting to become harder to keep open. I'd finally convinced dad to return to his hotel room for the night, but not before he promised to be back here first thing in the morning. I appreciated him wanting to be here for me, but honestly it just feels like he's watching my legs, waiting for them to move again. Time was slowly but surely ticking away. Time for him to face reality.

I'd gotten dad to lift the blinds on the window before he left. I love looking out on the enormous sky scrapers and letting the neon lights and traffic sounds fill the room. It reminds me that I'm not alone. That there are a million other people out there, each facing their own challenges, but still getting up each day to face the world. If they all could, than so could I.

My eyes had just fluttered close when there was a soft, but steady knock on the door. I wondered if it was dad returning but he would have just barged straight on in.

"Yes?" I called out.

The door slowly swung open and into the room stepped Natalie. Correction, Natasha. And boy she certainly looked different from the last time I'd seen her. Instead of the skin tight, brightly coloured dresses and high heels, she was now wearing a black catsuit. There was a belt strapped around her waist, a gun halter on her thigh and two bracelets on her wrists, which I'm guessing wasn't just for fashion. She looked deadly. And I was instantly jealous.

I'd always wanted to be that girl. The one who doesn't need anything from anyone, the girl who knows how to handle herself in a fight, who doesn't need a man to hold her hand or tell her she's beautiful. I could never be that girl as hard as I tried, and here Natasha was, standing in front of me and making it look effortless.

"Well this is a different look," I said casually as she entered the room and stood at the foot of my bed. "You should have worn this to the office."

She gave me a thin smile as she crossed her arms across her chest. "How are you feeling Miss Stark?"

"Well, see I would tell you but I'm afraid you're going to go running back to S.H.I.E.L.D and tell them everything I tell you," I said, sarcasm lacing my tone.

"I see your father has told you everything," she replied smoothly.

"Yes, he has."

She nodded before she made a gesture towards the door and took a step back from the bed. I heard the 'clack' of strong boots against the floor before I looked over and saw someone standing in the doorway. He was tall, dark and scary as hell.

Despite having never met him, I recognised him instantly from the eyepatch. Dad had described him to me after their first meeting following the Obadiah incident. This was not a man you would easily forget.

"Miss Stark, I'm Nick-"

"Fury," I finished for him. "I know. What do you want Mr. Fury?" Somehow I doubt the director of S.H.I.E.L.D was popping by at midnight for just a quick chat.

He stepped up to my bedside and I have to admit, he was intimidating as hell.

"Miss Stark, I have a proposal for you."


End file.
